Total Drama Hyrule: Universal Perspective
by Overlord-Flinx
Summary: Trent and Courtney must quest in a far away land filled with fimiliar faces, both good and bad. Will they succeed in conquering the evils that plot to take over the world? Rated T: For well, you'll see won't you? All Cannon couples, and some non-canon
1. A disturbance

**I felt like taking a wack at this, hope you like it, and if you don't, please be frank and say it up front.**

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"_Mistakes happen, how we react to a mistake may be even worse than the mistake at hand. But the only way to know for sure it was a mistake is to see through new eyes… to live a new perspective…_ sounds like some crack pot philosophy," The brunette mocked with a role of her un-amused onyx eyes as she read through one of her law books.

She, along with all the contestants where invited to stay at Playa Des Losers to avoid any unwanted lawsuit due to a volcano blowing down on them and injured them, leaving some dramatically injured; such as Alejandro. They all agreed reluctantly, much to Chris' pleasure and relief. For the remaining days of summer, Chris and Chef where legally forced to cater to them without their usual shenanigans, much to _everyone's_ pleasure. Courtney sat next to the black haired guitarist as they sat pool side wearing their usual clothing. Trent looked to Courtney with a side glance as he tuned his guitar calmly. "I don't know, it sounds pretty profound to me," He noted with a slight chuckle and a friendly smile.

Shooting him a bored look, she sighed. "Trent, as 'profound' as it sounds; what good comes from looking at anyone in a different way? People are the same no matter how you flip them," She explained to him, putting air quotes on the word profound. Trent sighed as he went back to working his guitar. "…we should know that better than any of the morons here…" Courtney muttered as she put her legs up to her chest and partially buried her face in her knees weakly. Trent froze for a minute before absently working his guitar again with a dark look in his face. His eyes looked across the pool to the mini bar in the center of the pool; drilling his eyes into the back of the heads of the two sitting with their backs to him. The two laughed and jostled each other playfully while Trent gritted his teeth. Courtney glanced at him then at the couple at the bar. "Don't bother… that ass and that—" Trent shot her a narrowing glair before she said anything about the girl. "—Goth, are not worth the trouble," She corrected herself mid sentence with a flick of her wrist to dismiss the idea.

Trent nodded at her and released a breath of relief before strumming his guitar since it was tuned for his next song. As he looked down at his strings as he played, he swore he saw Gwen peak her head at Trent, but when he looked, she was resting her head on Duncan's bare shoulder. Ignoring his despite thoughts, he went back to playing his guitar next to Courtney. As he continued to play his guitar, in the corner of his eye he saw Gwen and Duncan lean closer to each other and kiss passionently, cupping each others cheeks gently and brushing their bodies close to one enother. Trent attempted to hold in his anger and protest, clutching the neck of his guitar harshly with wood cracking under his grasp. Courtney on the other hand, clenched her knees tight with one hand on each knee while she shuttered. She kicked off the chair as she stood tall in front of all the people around the pool with her eyes softening and began to well up. "I hate you!" She screamed on the top of her lungs, forcing everyone to look over to her.

Despite how many times she said it, everyone including Duncan felt that she really meant it. Duncan hopped off his stool and waded through the water of the pool as quick as he could with a calm smile on his face. "Hey, come on princess," He pleaded with his usual carless tone, but a hint of nervousness under it all. As he reached the end of the pool ledge, he extended his hand to get out; only to see Courtney take a staggering step backwards in desperation to get away from the approaching delinquent. His eyes widened in surprise along with Gwen and Trent, who averted their eyes from the crowed standing around the resort. "Princess—"

"Shut up! I can't take this anymore! Bad enough you betrayed me… but now you openly mock me with that, that…" She stammered before breaking down in tears and bursting off to the resort building.

Looking at Duncan and Gwen's nervous and worried faces, Trent got out of his seat as he walked off after Courtney without a word. "…Trent?" Gwen called out with a shake to her voice and a slight extension of her hand out into the air.

Trent stopped for a quick second before shaking his head and continuing his walk. "…There is nothing to say to you two… much less you Gwen... it's all already been said," he informed her with an empty tone, despite the venom and anger behind it. At that, everyone gasped and looked to Gwen who hung her mouth a gap and slight tears pooling in her charcoal eyes.

* * *

Trent trailed after Courtney and finally caught up to her at the front doors to the main building on the island. He placed his hand on her shoulder as she sulked with her body trembling in sorrow. "Courtney…" he attempted to console her, but decided against going any further then that; things where bad enough.

She managed to stiffen her sobbing and turn to Trent with her biting her bottom lip. "Did you think I—"

"No way, you didn't over react… that was just the right thing to do," He assured her as he rested his palm on both of her shoulders.

As she sniffled, she wiped her tears with the back of her hand and forced a friendly smile at Trent. "T-thanks, Trent," She whispered as she hung her head down slightly.

_"Courtney's right… people are the same no matter what. And now I see the real Gwen,"_ Trent admitted to himself as he looked away in disgusted pain.

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A loud crack of thundering lighting flashed through the sky over a towering stone castle resting on top of a flaming pool of lava. The sky was blackened by storming clouds, but the reflection of the burning sea below tinted the soot colored clouds in a bloody red horror. The outsides of the tower had no life of any kind except a lone man in shimmering gold and silver armor with multiple layers of mettle, waving in a sharp ended tiers and a golden helmet with a high tipped point shape to it. He looked to the sky before a glimmering light shone out in the distance, which made him scratch under his chin through his sleek helmet. "I sense a disturbance…" He stated to himself as he looked at the growing ring of shining white light in the distance.

"…this could be promising," He whispered to himself in assurance that no one heard him just in case. Taking a loud clanging step, he started on his journey to the inner sanctum of the castle. After roughly ten steps he stopped and took a deep breath before releasing it. "This armors _heavy!_" He groaned with a swift wipe to his forehead, only to run his gauntlet hand with a clang to his golden helmet. Taking the second long break, he went back to shakily walking to the small entry way on the roof of the tower.

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Be honest… should I continue with this story? REVIEW… I promise you, if this keeps going, it will be amazingly funny and sad throughout the story.

**I owe the idea of this story to Princess Absahail, whose idea inspired me to take a wack at this.**

**P.S. If I DO keep going and you want a character sheet of who plays who… I'll share it.**


	2. The Sword, the Light, and stupid Trent

**The next installment, hope you enjoy. Remember to REVIEW.**

**And sorry for the late update, I'm having some computer malfunctions... but worry not, I'll always find a way.**

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The sound of clanging metal upon stone stairs echoed through the hall as Onox ventured up the narrow stair case. His way was dimly lit by a few flickering wall fires. At the peak of the steps, he reached a great wooden double door, which he pushed open without a seconds hesitation. As the door creaked open, his eyes came to see a giant, almost vacant room with a red carpet stretching from the door to a throne with a pillar on either side of it, covering the seat in darkness. Aside from him and the throne where a couple of mix matched clothed people standing all around the room, looking to him curiously as he stepped across the red carpet to the center of the room. He dropped to one of his armor clad knee and crossed his right arm across his chest as he bowed his head in respect. "Onox? Why have you left your post?" A thundering voice asked from the throne, causing a few of the people around them to cringe.

"Your highness, I come bearing news. Please forgive me absent minded intrusion," Onox informed him with a flattering tone. He peaked one of his eyes up from behind his golden helmet as he saw a slight hand wave in a gesture to tell him to go on. "You see your majesty, I have felt a disturbance in this world," He explained, still respectively kneeling down before the man.

The people around them whispered amongst each other and mumbled about this turn of events; all except one. A tall slender woman with scantily clad purple garments that had turquoise designs on it stepped forward with a roll of her piecing crimson eyes. "Really Onox? Because last time you 'felt a disturbance' it was just a brat with a stupid wind instrument," she pointed out snidely.

Though she couldn't see his face through his helmet, she could tell he was glaring at her. He slowly pushed of the ground with his unused hand and stood before the girl next to him, towering above her by about a foot. His hand came up and rested it's gauntlet glove on her shoulder as he snickered with a sigh. "Oh, poor, poor, naïve Veran. If I remember correctly that 'little boy' almost killed us all, even our most powerful leader," he corrected her politely but with a hidden tone of mockery. Everyone went into defensive mumbles about them losing being only a fluke or how they had a cold or some sort of nonsense. He gently stroked the palm of his gauntlet across her cheek as he sighed lovingly. "So beautiful but so unstable with jealousy," he mumbled to her as she slapped is hand away and stormed off back to where she was standing before, her cheeks slowly flaring red with embarrassment.

"Well, just speak for yourself Onox… I lost on my own terms," a man in a long sleeved robe and a silvery chameleon helmet pointed out.

"Ah, yes, my apologize. You snapped your own neck after joining alliances with the boy, didn't you?" Onox pointed out with a mocking tone and a slight chuckle.

The man stomped his foot and let out a loud scream of announce. "He got the best of me, he tricked me, he, he—"

"Silence!" a thundering voice erupted through the room, causing everyone to stiffen and turn back to the throne. "Onox… I will allow you to see into this disturbance," the voice went onto say with a not at all pleased or interested tone.

Onox bowed before the throne and nodded his head. "Thank you, your lordship," he thanked the man as he turned around, heading back for the exit.

His advance was cut short as he heard shifting metal coming from the throne. He turned around to see a silhouette in the chair rise up and take a few steps forward without exiting the darkness. "But only under the condition that you bring of them with you, so they can bare witness to what ever it is that's happening," He explained further, gesturing to the large group of people around the room.

Onox cursed under his helmet but nodded. "Please, master. You chose for me… only you could pick the perfect person for me to—"

"Onox, your groveling is only wearying on my patients, but still amuses me..." the voice informed him with an annoyed tone, invoking slight snickers from the surrounding people, and a smug smile from Veran to Onox. "But very well… Skull Kid!" He shouted, pointing to a short boy with straw like skin and a witch like hat made from reddish straw that covered his face that had a purple skull like mask with jagged yellow spikes outlining the outside of it.

He flinched and looked around frightfully with a rustle of straw against straw as his body moving even slightly. "M-me sir?" He murmured with uncertainty but hope in his voice.

"Yes, I want you to go with Onox and assist him with whatever he needs," He informed him calmly, attempting not to alarm him again. Skull Kid nodded and scampered off towards the towering man in gleaming armor. "Now, leave here… and don't return until you have proof of this disturbance," he threatened them as they exited the room and shut the wood doors behind them with a creak.

Now alone in the small corridor, Skull Kid looked up at Onox with uncertainty behind his mask. "Uh, so, we should get going?" He asked shakily while he pointed down the stairway.

"Skull Kid, I need you to hurry on and go to the Castle City Cathedral, that's where I… felt… the disturbance. Understood?" Onox directed the short boy next to him with a caring tone behind his helmet.

Skull Kid scratched his head through his hat and grumbled. "I understand, but—"

"This way, you'll get all the credit if I am right, and if there is danger… well, you are much faster and athletic then I possible could hope to be," Onox noted with a pat on the boy's straw head.

"I… I am fast, aren't i?" Skull Kid bragged with a proud, upright chest push and arm flex.

"Of course. Now, you do that, and I will await you here for your report," he explained as he took a few steps down the stone staircase.

Skull Kid weaved and hopped down the stairs in leaps and bounds. "You got it Onox, we're going to make a great team!" He roared in excitement, turning the corners of the corridor, disappearing out of site from Onox.

"Don't go causing any mischief…" He yelled down the hall as he heard the door slab that blacked the exit of the stairs on the bottom open and close, signaling that Skull Kid was gone. "…good thing I don't need Skull Kid for his brains. I'm not sure _what_ i need him for, but his stupidity helps…" he noted to himself with a sigh and a whisper. He followed Skull Kid's lead and walked down the stairs, echoing his feet across the dry stone stairs on his way down.

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The sun was high in the noon sky and glared down at the small bunch of teens partying on the resort island. But the sun made no difference to Courtney or Trent as they sat lazily under an umbrella table, Trent resting his hand on his palm and Courtney burying her head in the white table top and her hair sprawled out, framing her laid head. "This stinks…" Trent mumbled under his depressed sigh as he narrowed his saddened eyes.

"Your telling me…" Courtney replied in a muffled voice and a slight waver of her slacked hair.

They both sighed in displeasure as a steel cauldron was dropped in the space between them. With the loud thud of it hitting the table, they both shocked out of their depression and looked to who put it there. Before them to the side of the table stood Chef with his arms folded in front of his apron covered chest and a scowl on his face. "Listen up maggots!" He shouted to the two of them in his usual drill sergeant tone.

At this, Courtney whipped out a piece of paper with Chef and Chris's name scribbled on the bottom of it. "No insulting us… unless you want the courts to hear about this break from our contract agreement," Courtney threatened with a pleased smirk across her mocha-skinned face. _"Just what I needed to pick me up… law upholding!"_ she chirped to herself in her mind as she waved the paper back and forth at Chef, who bit his tongue.

"Uh, I mean… kids," he corrected himself with a slight stammer. Trent's face grew to a pleased smile over Chef trying to avoid trouble. Courtney nodded in approval then put the papers down. "Look, I need you two to do me a favor…" He went on with desperation in his usually cold eyes.

They looked at each other in wonder then back at Chef. "What is it?" Trent asked as he turned his whole body to him.

"I need you to go back to camp Wawanakwa and get a few boxes from my old kitchen," He instructed, pointing across the body of water surrounding the resort.

"Why?" Courtney asked with an annoyed tone about the pointless request.

"None of your gosh darn—" He started to yell at her, but saw she took the contract back out with a narrowing of her eyes. "I mean… pretty boy and I need to eat… since you—kids—won't let us eat any of your gourmet food…" He explained with a grit of his teeth.

"But, Total Drama Island was more then five months ago… won't all the food be rancid and stale?" Trent ask in disgust.

"It was all rancid and stale when we got it… but y'all ate it," Chef mocked with a laugh.

Trent and Courtney shrugged and got to their feet. "Fine… we'll do it. I hate to see people squirm," Courtney admitted as she walked down the path to the boats smugly.

Trent trailed after her with a friendly smile and confused arch of his brows. "Since when?" He asked after her, catching up to her after no time.

Courtney rolled her eyes as she hit Trent's arm playfully. They continued to dash down the resort until they reached the wooden dock where several boats and jet skis floated in the water while being tied to the dock. Before they could pick a boat to take, Beth came running up to them with a friendly smile. "Hey guys! What'cha doing?" she asked as she caught up with them.

Trent turned around to face her and gave her a smile. "Hey, Beth. We're just heading to Wawanakwa for some stuff for Chef and Chris… you want in?" He invited her, much to Courtney's clear displeasure.

Beth hopped around in excitement and a short lived clap. "Sure! I'd love to!" Trent laughed a little to himself as he gestured her to follow them.

Courtney sparred not a moment's wait to get a hold of a boat and rev up the engine. "We going or not?" She rhetorically asked as she tossed them a pair of life jackets.

Trent and Beth caught them with a short stagger then gave nerves looks to one another. "We better—"

"Yeah," Beth agreed with Trent before he could finish, snapping the jacket on and hopping onto the boat behind followed suite while also undoing the rope tied to the dock. They all took a seat while Courtney took the wheal with a focused look to her face. "Courtney? Do you know how to drive a boat?" Beth asked unsure as she snapped her belt on along with Trent.

"Oh please. Of course I do… I _was_ a C.I.T. after all," she assured them as she started the boat drove the boat slowly away from the dock.

With a sigh of relief, they relaxed down into their seats. "For once, I'm actually glad to hear you-"

"…But I did miss that day due to sickness…" Courtney added before hitting the accelerate all the way without a care to what Beth was going to say.

"What?" They both asked with wide eyes before getting a large kick back from the boat exploding through the water. The two screamed on the top of their lungs as they latched onto each other while Courtney looked out ahead as surges of water whipped past her and slightly across on her face.

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Camp Wawanakwa had been nearly untouched since the days of Total Drama Island; aside from a few stops to it by Chris for his torturing purposes. But the calm of the abandoned island was shattered today by a boat crashing into the "Dock of Shame", finally halting its insane advance towards the island. The trio of riders on boat groggily rose from the crashed boat as planks of cracked and split lumber slumped and lie on the nose of the ship. "Did we make it?" Beth asked in a daze as she adjusted her glasses while also trying to get footing on crooked boat.

Courtney robbed her forehead with a pained look on her face. "Yeah, yeah, i get it, i can't drive..." she grumbled as she hoisted herself out of the boat and helped her two partners out of the boat one after the other.

Trent dusted himself off with a caring smirk to Courtney as he settled down onto the green grass of the island. "You know, for a first time run, that wasn't so bad…" He tried to comfort her with a careless shrug.

Courtney looked at him in disbelief along with Beth. "'Wasn't so bad'? I could have killed all of us!" She retorted in upset.

"Maybe… but we're fine," He continued to try and console her. She sighed in desperation and nodded. _"It's not like her to be so… vulnerable… I've gotta snap her out of it,"_ he encouraged himself as he scratched the back of his head. "Besides, I was more worried about your safety then anything else," Trent let out with his face tinting red softly.

For a moment, Courtney and Beth looked to Trent in surprised disbelief. "Really… Trent?" Courtney finally asked, trying gain her composer back.

"Uh, yeah. But anyway," Trent let out, trying to get back on track with wave of his hands. "We should hurry and get those boxes…" He pointed out as he headed over to the dining hall.

Courtney followed after him in silence, leaving Beth behind with confused look. "…Trent and Courtney?" she ran by her mind with a cringe at the mere idea before following in their path to the dining hall.

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It took them a few minutes before they located the boxes of far expired food and gathered them up in their arms. "Let's hurry this up… I think the bread growled at me," she mumbled as she held a stack of boxes to her chest wryly.

Trent looked passed his stack of boxes with fear in his eyes. "That's bread? I thought it was celery," he cringed as he opened the screen door with his leg and let the two girls go ahead out of the building. Once they where out, he let the door slam shut behind him as he staggered down the wooden plank steps after them. As he followed after them, he came to a halt when he noticed a faint light looming off in the woods to the side. _"Light? Did Chris leave one of his tanning lamps out there?"_ he asked himself as he slowly put the stack of boxes down.

Courtney and Beth looked out behind them to Trent as he started to walk of towards the woods. "Trent? Where are you going? We need to get back and deliver this crap!" Courtney yelled to him as she put some of her boxes down in the boat.

Trent looked back and pointed to off to the woods. "I see a light out there… I'll catch up in a minute, I just want to check it out," Without waiting for any protest, he ran into the woods towards the faint light.

"Wait! Grrr, come on Beth," Courtney growled as she grabbed Beth's wrist and dragged her off after Trent.

Beth tightly held one of the boxes to her chest as Courtney yanked her across the field after Trent. Trent dodged a series of trees that seemed to be growing higher and darker as he went pass them. _"Somethings not right here… but it feels right somehow… weird," _he thought as the thicket of trees grew deeper and darker. As he hopped a fallen tree, he came into sight of a large area of no trees and sun light trickling down on it. What was more peculiar then him never seeing anything like this on his walks through the forest, was that there where –what seemed to be- aged ruins laying around the small opening. Small stone walls outlined a small structure that seemed to once stand there. He walked across the half stone, half grass flooring, through the wall-less structure. "Is this one of Chris' sets?" He wondered as his feet seemed to echo across the fragments of stone flooring.

A loud rustling of leaves erupted behind him, which forced him to turn around to see Courtney dragging Beth; anger on her face. "Trent! There you are! You have me and Beth here chase after you into this god forsaken woods and—what is this place?" Courtney ranted before scanning around the small ruins around them.

"I know, right? It's so weird..." Trent added as he looked at a plaque that was shattered down the middle somehow.

As he looked at it, he noticed there was something glimmering off in the distance behind it. Taking a jump over it, he walked over to whatever was glimmering in the distance. "Trent!" Courtney screamed after him in exasperation before running after him along with Beth, closely being dragged behind her.

Trent passed through two towering stone frames that led to a small elevation of steps that led to what he saw glimmering: a rusted sword wedged into a stone, vines stretching and twisting up the length of it. _"What in the-" _he pressed his hand to the purple hilt of the blade, feeling the cold texture of it in astonishment.

He glanced behind himself as he heard panting and dragged feet from behind him as Courtney stormed in behind him with Beth panting and trying to get free of her captures hold. "Trent, we have to go... now!" Courtney barked, whipping Beth's hand free and taking a few steps closer to him. She peaked around him and saw the aged sword, pursing her brows and frowning before looking to Trent's amused face. "I don't know if this is a set or what... but we've gotta' go. This place is creeping me out now," Courtney admitted as she stroked her arms in in a shiver.

Giving her a wave of his hand, Trent chuckled lightly. "You're over reacting... it's just one of Chris's rejected sets for Total Drama Action or something..." He reasoned with her as he turned back to the sword and cupped his hand around the length of the hilt, gripping it firmly. "So why leave a perfectly good 'sword' here to rust and just go to waste, right?" Before either Beth or Courtney could stop or say anything, he yanked the sword out with a loud clang of metal sliding against stone, ripping the thorny vines as the sword slipped out with little effort. Trent examined it for a second then looked to the girls with a triumphant smile. "See? It's just... a..." He started to say, but took note of the girls terrified faces as they looked passed him. "Prop?" As he turned back around, he saw a blinding light exploding out of the small slot that the sword had been wedged in.

"Damn you Trent, you-!" Courtney's scream was cut off by the light enveloping around them and the whole clearing of ruins, silencing everything in a blanket of white light, forcing the three of them to clamp their eyes shut so as not to be blinded by the light.

_"I should have seen that coming... nothings free without some kind of price,"_ Trent told himself as he kept his eyes closed but held onto the sword for dear life. As hard as he tried, he felt his mind slipping away and he passed out, still holding the hilt of the sword. Though he went uncontentious, he continued to grasp the hilt tightly in his palm.

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**So, how was it? Was it in character? Did you like it at all? Here's how you can tell me while also giving some input or just congratulate me: REVIEW or LEAVE a COMMENT... see you next time when we FINALLY start this quest.**


	3. The Adventure Beguins: Skull Kid's Heart

**Now it's finally happening... we're FINALLY getting to the adventure of this whole thing. Enjoy, and remember to REVIEW**

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The cobblestone center plaza of the bustling city of Castle Town was filled with the usual blurs and hubbub of the radiant life that always ensued within its stone gated walls. The sun blanketed the city and the castle in warm glow as the people carried out their normal affairs for the day. But to no ones notice, a straw skinned boy in green and auburn raggedy cloths slithered and ducked around through the dank alleyways of the city. Every so often, Skull Kid peaked his head around a wooden crate to see if anyone was near, taking the whole mission given to him as a stealth trip. Seeing not a soul insight that could view him in the darkness of the back lane, he tip toed out from behind his cover and started to head north with a rustle of his body. As he tip toed down the dark stretch of littered alley, he froze for a moment as he heard a faint buzzing sound emanating from the Cathedral. "Maybe Onox was right… maybe there is—" as he continued a wave of white light flew passed him in an instant, along with the rest of the town. "—something going on… what was that?" He wondered as he looked down another alley that connected to the one he was in and saw the white curtain of light pass by-and through- buildings and people.

The light even escaped out of the city and slithered out across the field. "Whoa! That's wicked!" Skull Kid chirped with a fist pump into the air. For a moment, he froze then cocked his head to the side. "Did I just say that? Weird…" He muttered before he shook it off and continued his sneak over to the back way of the cathedral. "As cool as it was, I have a job to do… Onox will flip if I don't find that disturbance. So I'll save that weird light that came from the cathedral for later…" as he reasoned with himself, he turned a dark corner and came face to mask with a cluster of white feathered birds.

With one foot hanging in the air in mid step, he froze in his tracks as the cooing and clucking of the birds scratched at his ears. He took an audible gulp before he turned on his heel with a slow rustling of his bodies joints, arousing the attention of the flock of cuckoos with twitches of there little heads in his direction. With no more hesitation, he fled off with a crackling scream as the cuckoos swarmed after him. While he desperately fled away from his white winged pursuers, he made careful aim not to slip out of the safety of the alleyway. "Why am I running?" He asked himself frantically before he stumbled on his own feet and did a rolling crash into a crate resting in the alley.

His arms flung over his head and his legs pressed to his chest as the cuckoos finally caught him and pecked at his squirming straw body. He continued to cower as they continued there ruthlessly peck and pick at his body, when suddenly… nothing. They stopped instantly, everything went silent, and Skull Kid felt a warmth surrounding him. _"Huh?"_ he slowly winced his left eye open to see what was going on. What he saw surprised and confused him more, the cuckoos where below him, staring up at him and fluttering to get at him. _"Oh man… I'm dead, they pecked me to death! I knew it, I knew it… I knew I'd die by beaks!" _ he panicked inwardly as he gasped in and out uncontrollably.

Then, he felt the warmth that surrounded him grew deeper and he noticed a pair of soft arms laced around his chest. He creaked his head upward to see who they belonged to. And to his wonder, he saw a young lady with lush golden kempt hair and red streaks in it, closely pressing him to her chest and glaring down at the disgruntled birds. "No! Bad, bad, _bad,_ cuckoos. You leave this poor cutie alone!" She yelled at them as she stroked Skull Kid's head through his hat adoringly. Skull Kid's eyes widened under his mask along with his mouth going agape as he looked at the gorgeous woman holding him. Seeing that they weren't going to get the boy, they strutted off back down the alleyway where they originally started their pursuit. She waited a moment before she hopped off the crate and pulled Skull Kid away from her chest, giving him a warm and loving smile as she held him out. "Hey little guy," She greeted as her face glowed with delight.

Skull Kid remained silent other then his constant rattling and rustling from his body. _"Dude, snap out of it, a totally hot chick is talking to you! Put some on some of that 'Skull-Kid' charm,"_ he pumped himself mentally as he looked mesmerized into her soft sapphire eyes. "…you're pretty," he little out with a dimwitted drawl. _"Alright! Smooth Skull Kid, smooth,"_ as he congratulated himself mentally, the girl giggled with a thankful smile before she set the boy back on the ground.

"Aww, that's so sweet. You're really cute, too. But I've gotta' go, I need to get to my dad before he takes off without me," She returned before picking up her long white dress tail and running off back to the rest of the civilians, but not before blowing him a kiss from the distance. "Bye-bye!" She yelled over to him before she disappeared in flow of street walkers.

As he remained there, he 'caught' the air kiss in the palm of his hand in excitement. "She said I was… cute? Hah… I'm cute. I'm cute! YEAH!" He cheered as he jumped and did a few aerial flips and did a short dance. He quickly snapped out of it with a shake of his head, realizing he was off track from his job. "Almost forgot!" he scurried through the dark back ways to the cathedral, his hat fluttering in the rush. In the hurry, he noticed something was off about him. He halted once more and scanned over his body, noticing his cloths had changed. "…since when did I where a red shirt and pants… and how did this white streak get there?" He questioned himself as he looked over his body. Seeing that it wasn't a threat, and in fact that he liked the turn of his cloths, he shrugged it off and continued his venture to the cathedral.

* * *

For a brief moment, everything in Trent's world was dark. The world around him started to flow to life and vibrancy as his eyes twitched open lazily. He groggily lifted his aching body off the cold, smooth flooring around him; using his right leg to give him leverage on steadying himself to a mid-stand. Pressing his free hand to his bare forehead, he groaned slightly before looking around him. Surprisingly, he was no longer surrounded by dark woods or shattered ruins. What surrounded him now was a span of endless darkness with a dark blue mist wafting in the distance around six standing pedestals with water like surfaces standing still around the platform he was kneeling on. He looked down at the platform he was on and saw that it too had a water like surface, but felt like a sleek marble surface. Not only that, but he noticed that on the larger platform he was on had a golden triangle platform in the middle broken into three smaller triangles, and multiple colored hexagons that where in line with one of the surrounding pedestals each. "This is..." He started to say, but then froze when he remembered that he wasn't alone when the light surrounded him.

_"Courtney and Beth..."_ he inwardly gasped before he scanned around the small area for them. It didn't take long for him to see a limp body lying next to him. He kneeled down next to it, examining it closely. The body had flowing brown hair and a mocha-skin tone. "...Courtney?" Trent asked unsure as he examined her cloths while rocking her shoulder.

She let out a reluctant grunt as she opened her eyes slowly. "T-Trent? What happened?" She asked as she shakily got to her feet with help from Trent, who still had a confused look.

Courtney looked into his face then furrowed her eye brows in annoyance. "What? Is there something on my face?" She asked as she looked to him with narrowed eyes.

"N-no... but, your clothes..." Courtney took Trent's hint and looked down at her cloths and was shocked to see that she was in a completely different attire.

She was in an elegant white dress with a thin purple top and gold shoulder plates over the curves of her shoulder. "The he- and what are _you_ wearing?" Courtney stammered as she checked her body up and down and pointing at Trent's attire.

Sure enough, he was in a green tunic with a brown leather strap done over his chest that connected to a brown leather belt on his waist, and a pair of matching white long pants and under shirt. Atop his head he had an elfish green hat that slacked slightly down the nape of his neck. He felt the hat in disbelief before his fingers stroked across his ears, which where now pointed. "What happened to my ears?" Trent asked, hoping for an answer but wasn't surprised with not getting one since Courtney felt that her ears where the same.

They frantically fussed over their new looks and ears, so much so they hadn't noticed the gold triangle in the center started to emanated a visible light while a figure slowly appeared floating above it. The man had a round figure with a thick white mustache that span from one side of his face to the next. He wore a long, multi-layered and designed, orange garment that covered over his aged hands. His eyes drifted down to the pair of panicking teens before clearing his throat audibly. Trent and Courtney stiffened up before looking over the side of their shoulders to see the man looking down at them sternly. "...I am Rauru, one of the seven sages..." He explained with a deep, caring voice.

Thinking the same thing, Trent looked to Courtney as she looked to her with a raise of there brows. "...Sage?" Trent unsurely inquired as he took a step forward.

"Yes... one of the Seven Sages who keep the sanctity in the land of Hyrule..." He explained further to Trent, whose face turned to surprise again.

"Hy-Hyrule? That's a land in Legend of Zelda! It's not real," Trent reasoned with a shake of his head.

"To your world, it may indeed be a world fantasy... but to the people that reside here, it is as real as yours... and now it is in danger... along with yours," Rauru informed the duo with a serious tone.

"Okay... lets say what your saying _is_ true; what do you mean in danger?" Courtney humored the older man with a role of her eyes and a fold of her white gloved hands in front of her chest.

"Your world has started to leak into our world... and in time-if not put into check- it will merge with yours... releasing the evils that have been sealed into our world across your unexacting world," Trent's face turned worry as he thought of such a thing happening.

Courtney saw his face then scoffed with her hands on her hips. "Please... you can not be believing this!" Rauru gently levitated down and stood next to Courtney with a concerned look.

"You must believe me... if you don't take upon the your mantels in this world, we will all surely be doomed..."

"...mantels? What mantels?" Courtney asked in actual sudden interest.

In reply, Rauru lifted his sleeve covered hand in their direction. Almost instantly, they noticed a faint glow flowing out of the back of there hands in the form of a glowing triangle. "The mantels of wielders of the triforce... the hero Link; wielder of the triforce of courage..." He announced, gesturing to Trent, who looked to him in astonishment. "...And princess Zelda; the wielder of the triforce of wisdom," Courtney flinched for a second then ran her finger tips across the mark on her hand in disbelief; going to the extent to take off her glove to see if it was really embedded into her skin.

"...We're not-"

"You are... you are the incarnates of Zelda and Link. The very embodiments of our greatest heroes..." He assured them.

They looked uncertain, but sighed in defeat. "Say that we are... hypothetically... what do we have to do?" Courtney asked hesitantly as she covered her triforce hand.

Rauru let out a relieved breath of air and relaxed his body. "Thank you... you will have to go search out each of the temples that cover the span of this world at re-awaking of each of the currant sages... there at each temple, you will find the replacement that will have to assist the currant sage in closing the flow of your world into ours..." he enlightened them carefully. "You first must travel to a cathedral located in the city called Castle Town..." He instructed calmly as he slowly worked his way over to a yellow hexagon on the platform.

"Wait!" Courtney shouted after him as she took a step forward. He glanced over his shoulder as he halted in his advance. "How are we supposed to find our way to this Castle Town?" She asked as Rauru waved his hand in their direction, blanketing them in a similar blinding light that brought them there.

"I have arranged a guide for you... rest assure, she's trust worthy... but you two already know that," he informed them as he disappeared within the wave of light. Trent and Courtney covered their eyes with there arms, disappearing from the Spirit Realm and leaving Rauru behind. Once they had left his presents, he sighed and shook his head. "Goddesses... we're doomed..." he prayed with the thought of their new heroes going on this adventure before he shined a blinding gold glow and flowed into the yellow hexagon on the platform.

* * *

**To tell the truth, i left a few parts out that i planned to do... and i'm not too happy with this chapter... what do you think? REVIEW and LEAVE a COMMENT!**

**...Where's Beth and why did Trent stop caring?  
**


	4. Sage of Light: Ask and you shall receive

**Here's the next installment, the first action-y one up to date. Enjoy... OH, i also want to give my thanks to Theater Of The Mind for their story ****25 Ways To Annoy Your Favorite TDI Characters****, which helped me figure some things out in my story.  
**

_

* * *

"This isn't exactly how I planned to spend today…"_ Trent thought to himself as he shielded his eyes from the ensuing light. As he felt soft gusts of wind and the crunch of crisp green grass under foot, he lowered his arms to see a wide open field with lush hills in the distance. "Wow… it's beautiful," He laughed as he scanned the green plains and bright blue sky looming over it.

Courtney lifted herself off and brushed clinging blades of grass and dirt off her skirt with an unamused frown. "Yeah, it's great, can we get going?" She insisted as she started to walk off towards one of the surrounding hills.

"Come on Courtney, we may as well make the most of it if we're supposed to do all this save the world stuff," Trent pointed out as if it was the plainest thing in the world.

Courtney shot her head back with a roll of her eyes at Trent, who just smiled to her cheerily. "Even if I wanted to -and I don't- if we don't hurry, the worlds will merge and whatever bad things will happen…" she noted with a toss of her hair before continuing on her trail.

Trent ran after her and cut her path off with his body. "Even so, we still need to wait for our guide, right?" Courtney puffed a breath of air in annoyance and nodded, which provoked a smirk on Trent's face. _"She's easier to deal with then Duncan led to believe," _Trent thout to himself as he looked at Courtney's determined but defeated look. Just then, they heard a faint twinkling sound coming from Trent's hat. Courtney looked up at it and noticed that it was fidgeting around and standing up on end. Trent peaked his eyes up at it in curiosity before looking to Courtney. "Do you think?" He hinted before cupping his hands around his hat and plopping it off.

He lowered it down between the two of them and looked into the dark insides of the hat's lining. Just then, a sparkling blue orb with iridescent, glass like wings fluttered out of the hat and fluttered in excitement around the two of them. "Oh my gosh! I was so worried for you two! I thought something happened to you guys but then I woke up inside some dark, dark place that I tried to escape from, and, and—" The sparkling orb rambled jubilantly as Trent and Courtney flinched in surprise.

"That voice…" Courtney mused as she narrowed her eyes.

As if picking up on the same thing, Trent shot his hand out and caught the small creature gingerly with a cup of his hands. "…Beth?" He asked as he slowly lifted his top hand off to view the creature.

"Yeah! And look, I got new clothes like you… but why do I have to be Navi? Am I _that _annoying?" She asked with a down trot tone and a slump of her small shoulders.

She was wearing a small blue one piece dress and she was only about four inches tall. "Wait… you know about all this?" Courtney inquired with suspicion.

"Of course! Rauru told me everything spiritually while I was sleeping… and I've played the games like, a million times each," Beth bragged with a light snort.

Trent pumped his free hand in the air in joy. "Yes! So you know everything, right?" Beth nodded at him and Courtney grinned.

"This may be easier then I thought," She admitted with a pleased smirk.

Beth slowly lifted herself off Trent's hand and looked around the field. "Let's see… Castle town is… that way!" She pointed out across the field with a sure look on her face.

The duo followed her direction, but came to a halt when Trent realized something. "Where's my sword?" He asked as he checked over his body frantically.

Beth looked to Courtney as she sighed, then looked up into the sky. "Oh, there it is!" She cried in excitement.

Trent stopped searching his body and looked to Beth. "Where?" Suddenly, a sheathed sword plummeted down above Trent and smacked him in the head with a loud crash. "OW!" He yelped as he rubbed his black hair and grabbing the sword off the ground. He pulled it out of it's sheath then gave a half smile. "Well… it's the sword," He laughed before slipping his hat back on.

"Not just a sword, Trent, it's the Master Sword!" Beth corrected him as she flew of to him and circled around the sword. "The sword that can banish evil," Trent looked at it and nodded with a calm look to his eyes.

"Cool… but," Trent slipped the sword into the sheath strapped to his back then looked down at Beth. "A sword's nice, but won't we need a bow for long range fighting?" Before Beth could say anything about it, a wooden bow with metal plating on the ends of it fell down onto Trent's head with a loud crack. "Ow… but cool," He noted as he picked up the bow to examine it for cracks.

Courtney dashed over to him and picked it out of his hand. "At C.I.T. training, I learned archery… I scored top of the class at that," She explained to them before they had a chance to retort it.

"I guess it would be best for you to have a weapon too… by the way, shouldn't I have a—" Once again, Trent was clocked in the head by an arm sized plate shield with a clanging ring. "Grah! That's starting to get old!" Trent cursed up at the sky as he snapped the shield to a hook on his back strap. "Great… now we have a bow, a sword, and a shield… now all we need is a quiver and some arrows for Courtney," Trent continued, which made Beth and Courtney cower.

Once Trent realized what he just said, he took his shield out and took cover under it. As Trent cowered under his shield like a turtle, a rain of arrows pattered onto his shield and on the field surrounding him, followed by a brown quiver. "That was close… looks like that quiver can hold 40 arrows," Beth noted as she came out from behind Courtney's shoulder.

Trent moved his shield from over him and smiled as he gathered the arrows. "…wait, there's only—" Before he could finish, an arrow shot into his hind and wedged into it's flesh. "—nope, that's 40…" he corrected himself through gritted teeth while he pulled the arrow out. After he stuffed them into the quiver, he handed to Courtney who slung it around her shoulder. "This is perfect… now, if I remember correctly, we need-" Courtney pushed her hand over Trent's mouth in frustration.

"Trent! Enough! Stop asking for stuff before you _kill us_!" She barked while shooting daggers at his surprised face.

He nodded as Courtney took her hand off his mouth and started to head towards Castle Town. "…I was just going to say we need bombs," he mumbled, but loud enough for Courtney and Beth to hear.

They turned around with frightful faces. "RUN!" Beth screamed as she fluttered away at a breakneck pace towards Castle Town followed by Courtney as she lifted up her dress for easier leg movement.

Trent looked upward as his heart sank at the sight of a series of blue colored bombs fell towards him; lit. With no more waiting, he scurried off after the girls as explosions of fire erupted behind him in each step as the bombs hit the ground. "Damn you Rauru!" He yelled up at the sky with a shake of his fist before catching up with his team.

They all took a stop as they noticed the bombs stopped exploding then glared at Trent. "Don't you listen, Trent?" Courtney mocked with a hiss.

Beth flew up into his face so he could see her furious face. "Yeah, _LISTEN,"_ she ordered him before going back to Courtney.

Trent scratched his face in embarrassment then lowered his head. "I'm sorry…" Courtney bit her lip as she scrunched the freckles above her nose up in regret.

"It's alright, I guess… at least we're fine. Let's just get going," she instructed before continuing in the direction Beth previously pointed out.

Trent nodded with a relieved smile and followed after her. "Wait! I forgot to tell you something!" Beth yelled to them as she fluttered to get in front of them. They cocked their heads in interest and waited for what she needed to say. "Okay, as long as we're here… we can't say _anything_ about our world to anyone that resides in this world… not even our real names, or people may start to panic that their heroes aren't around anymore," the two of them nodded in understanding. "Also, Rauru told you that our world is leaking into theirs… which means that just like us, people from our world have taken on forms of people in this world…"

"So they can help us?" Beth shook her head at Trent's question.

"Unlike us, they probably have nothing more then a few similarities to the people from our world, I don't really know the details, neither does Rauru… but we have to stay on task, no matter who we face," Beth instructed them firmly, to which they nodded. "Alright… now let's get to the cathedral and awaken the first sage!" She cheered, sparking Trent and Courtney to charge off into the distance.

* * *

The city of Castle Town was mixed in a murmur of confusion and astonishment as they all gathered around the fountain in the central plaza. They where all drawn their by the sight of a small straw bodied boy who was sitting on the ledge of the stone fountain with his masked face buried in his hands. _"Grragh… I didn't find anything… nothings out of the ordinary here. Onox is gonna kill me!"_ he cried inwardly as he shook his head depressed in his hands. With a push off of the ledge, and people gasping and taking steps back in fear, Skull Kid started to walk out of the grouping of people with his head hanging. _"There's nothing to report… nothing, nothing—"_ he continued to rant in his mind before he bumped into a white panted leg.

He stumbled backwards and landed on his butt with a rustle of straw. "Tre—Link! Watch where you're going! You could've hurt this poor creature," He heard being yelled at by the person he ran into.

"Sorry, sorry," The man extended his hand down to under Skull Kids hat. "Here, let me help you up," the man offered kindly.

Skull Kid took his hand and picked himself up quickly. "Thanks… you don't seem like your from around here, why are you here?" Skull Kid asked out of curiosity as he looked over the pair of people.

"No offense, but you don't look like your from around here either," Skull Kid flinched and looked around quickly.

"Uh, right, I was uh… doing… evil," he rambled before bursting out passed them and disappearing in a blur of dust kicked up behind his steps._  
_

Trent looked out after him with a raise of his brow. "He seemed familiar…" he mused but was cut off of thought when Courtney dragged him across the cobblestone street.

"Enough talk, we don't have time for any distractions," she ordered with a narrowing of her eyes and Beth following after her to her shoulder.

The crowd that surrounded Skull Kid suddenly turned their attention to Courtney. She froze and cocked her head to the side in surprise at the crowd eyed her down. "It's… Princess Zelda!" They roared as they ran up to her, pushing Trent and Beth aside while they swarmed her.

The people cheered and praised her as she looked back and forth at between people with a nervous look. Trent attempted to get through the pack of people, only to be thrown out by recoil. "Tsk, Beth, what do we do?" He asked as he looked up at his fairy friend.

Beth tilted her head and smiled warmly as she noticed Courtney's nervous and usually refined face started to glow and widen with a grin. "My people, I love you all!" She told them all, invoking an array of cheers from around her.

"I think she's fine… let's just move on with out her," Beth suggested with Trent nodding with a soft smile.

"I'm glad she's finally smiling…" He admitted to Beth, who giggled and started to guide Trent pass everyone and towards a large stone cathedral in the distance.

* * *

_"Skull Kid, you're on fire today!"_ Skull Kid congratulated himself as his body scurried across the grassy plains of Hyrule. After running a few meters away, Skull Kid started to slow down. "Wait a minute…" He muttered as he threw his gaze of his shoulder and back at the city. "That guy…" his mind flashed with visuals of Trent and his cloths, then back to Link and the day he defeated him.

"…"

Slowly, the ground around him started to shake and rattle as he began to twitch with crazy castanet clicking of his joints. The sky above him started to swirl into dark clouds and the eyes of his mask grew bright yellow. "LIIIIINK!" He screeched as his body flew off the ground and zoomed back towards the city, destroying grass and land as he spurred off across it.

* * *

Wondering into the giant entryway of the cathedral, Trent glanced around the vast insides of the cathedral. He was mesmerized by the great glass windows that stretched light into all corners of the room. As his feet clicked and clacked with an echoing reverb through the vast room, he walked up to a large slab of plaque with white engraved words etched into it. "Hey… this—" Before Trent could end his notion, a shattering scream echoed through the walls and forced Trent to spin around and look to the entrance. With shoulders pumping up and down, and audible panting, Skull Kid stood at the entrance, the door slowly closing behind him with an echoing creak. Trent breathed a sigh of relief and started to take a step to him. "Oh, it's just you from—" Again, he was cut off by Skull Kill screaming a curtailing cry before flinging himself at Trent with arms and legs flailing at will.

Skull Kid connected to Trent's face and started to scratch and punch at him in a flurry. "Trent! That's Skull Kid, _the _Skull Kid, the one who stole Majora's mask!" Beth informed him frantically as Trent pried Skull Kid off his face with his hands clamped around the edge of his mask with a strain.

"Thanks for warning me!" He growled back dryly as he finally got Skull Kid off and threw him to a stone wall before taking his sword and shield out.

With a rush of his body like a snake, he got back on his feet then cracked his neck to the side. "You should've stayed in your little safe world Link… where ever it was… because now, hah, now, I'm going to serve you up on a table of pain! And then I'm gonna eat at it, HAH!" He raged in an incoherent rant, which made Trent go wide eyed and fumble his sword.

"...Tyler!" Beth queried with a gasp after studying his cloths and actions compared to how Skull Kid usually behaved.

"I thought that last thing sounded a little too stupid… even for a Skull Kid," Trent mumbled before bracing his sword and shield for a fight.

"Hey! What are you guys talking about!" Skull Kid fumed with a stomp of his foot.

"We where talking about how stupid that mask is that your wearing," Trent replied with a mocking tone, receiving shocked looks from both Beth and Skull Kid.

Beth flew up next to Trent's ear as Skull Kid started to rattle his body about in rage. "What are you doing?" She whispered with a shutter in her flight.

"He's the incarnation of Tyler in this world, right? Well I'm trying to see how much he's like him…" He replied to Beth with a side glance.

Beth nodded and fluttered under his cap for safety. "So remind me again… who are you?" Trent asked with a fake look of vacancy. _"Just think of things that make him mad,"_ Skull Kid froze for a moment then fumed with arms flailing.

"I'm Skull Kid!"

"Oh, Sprawl Boy, I remember now,"

"Skull Kid, it's _Skull Kid_!" He raged as he hopped around mad with kicking about.

_"Anger about miss saying his name… check… now there's one last thing I have to see to prove my theory," _he thought as he pointed his sword in Skull Kid's direction. Skull Kid stopped in the air and arched himself into a battle stance. Trent narrowed his eyes as his lips curled downward. Suddenly his eyes turned to a friendly look and he grinned at him. "Hey look, a chicken," He pointed out with his sword pointing towards a window.

Letting out a high pitched squeal, Skull Kid sprinted around the cathedral in a flurry. "They're back to finish me off! They're not happy with just a taste!" He wined with his arms flailing like noodles above his head.

Beth peaked her head out from under the hat and looked down at Trent who looked to her with a flat look. "Tyler," they said at once flatly before Trent whipped his sword out for battle.

Skull Kid calmed himself and steeled himself for combat as he saw Trent angle his blade at him. "Cuckoos or not… I'm going to mess you up!" Skull Kid marked as he flew at Trent with another flurry of his fists.

Trent put his shield up infront of his face and torso in preparation for the assault. Before Skull Kid made contact with the shield, the doors of the cathedral flung open, revealing Courtney with a bow at hand and two arrows locked for fire. "Keep your smug paws off him you darn dirty rag doll!" She cursed before fireing a spiraling arrow at him, nailing Skull Kid in mid-air in his left arm, lodging it into his staw limb.

Skull Kid let out a pained yelp as he put his hand on his stricken arm as he slammed into the Trent's shield. Before he could retaliate with an attack, Courtney fired her second shot to his chest, piercing it to the top of left section of his torso, forcing him to stumble back and hit the back of his head on the plaque counter. His head shuttered as he lifted his masked head up in pain, then looked between 'Link' and 'Zelda'. "Ch-cheep… shot," he gasped out before slumping his head over his chest, tapping the arrow with the lining of his hat.

Courtney lowered her bow with a determined glare then ran over to Trent. "Are you alright?" Courtney asked with a smug smirk down at her partner.

Trent looked away in embarrassment then hoisted himself up. "I could've handled him…" Trent retorted as he walked over Skull Kid's slacked body. "Do you think he's dead?" Trent asked as he kneeled down next to him with a sympathetic look.

"Naa, the way I shot at him probably only put him in shock… but I rather not be here when he wakes up," Courtney diagnosed as she put her bow to her back and walked behind the plaque.

Trent looked to Skull Kid one last time before leaving him and following Courtney. Together they walked into a dark chamber with a stone that had the mark of the triforce on it. Trent snapped his fingers and laughed. "Hey, this is where I found the Master Sword in our world… only, you know, it's not in ruins," He explained with a look of realization.

Courtney skimmed the room and nodded. "Sure looks like it," she mused with a stroke to her chin in interest.

"Trent? Courtney?" They both flinched at the sudden burst of voice, looking around the room to see who said it. Behind the holder for the Master Sword stood a tall, chocolate skinned boy with similar garments to the ones Rauru was dressed in. "What's going on here? Why am I dressed like some old monk from a video game?" He asked with a shaky voice and a worried look.

"Funny you say that, DJ... and we'd love to explain it to you," Trent laughed with a nervous half smile while Courtney rolled her eyes.

"Look DJ. This is the run down: we're in another world, it's in danger, you and several other people are going to need to help these people called the Sages stop some kind of catastrophe from occurring on our world in this one... am i going to fast for you?" She questioned after explaining the jist of the their situation with her gloved hand on her hip.

DJ stood stunned with his jaw agape. "Well, it's a lot to take in, i understand that; but we need your contribution on this," Trent insisted as he walked over to DJ.

With a deep calming inhale, he nodded and gave Trent a friendly smile. "'Ight, i get it... not really, but I'll still help however i can..." He stammered with a brave puff of his chest.

The duo of heroes and their fairy nodded at each other; when suddenly a blinding flash surrounded them in a white light, summoning them into the Spirit Realm again. This time, neither Courtney or Trent shielded their eyes, becoming used to the bursts of light. DJ was now standing on the platform adjacent to the yellow hexagon, which had started to glow unlike the rest. They noticed Rauru's transparent body hovering above the yellow hexagon with a proud smile arching under his mustache. "Congratulations, the first sage has been linked, which means..." He announced before fading away.

The hexagon next to his sparked to life with the green light shining with a dim emerald glow, summoning along with it a short girl with short green hair and a leafy green tunic. "Heh-heh, nice to see ya', I'm Saria, the Sage of the Forest; and I'm gonna need you to go to the Forest Temple back in my home to inform the new Sage about this whole ordeal..." She explained in a high chipper tone and cute smile as she floated above her hexagon.

"Wait... so I'm going to be left alone here?" DJ asked with a sink of his heart and shrill to his voice.

"H-hey, don't worry Deej, we'll be back in no time... and we'll also be bringing someone back. So you won't be alone for that much longer," Trent assured him with a wave to him.

DJ took in another breath before sitting down on his pedestal. "Okay, okay, I'll just wait here..." He responded as if he had a choice.

Courtney nodded to Trent, who nodded to Saria, who giggled and waved to them. "I'll send you back to the cathedral... be safe and-oh-I've got something to give you," She instructed as she took a wooden ocarina out of her pocket and tossed it to Trent before the light engulfed the room and faded Trent and Courtney away.

After a few moments of silence, DJ laid back with a saddened sigh. "...why was i picked to be involved with all this?" He grumbled with fear in his voice.

Rauru fazed next to him and looked down at him with a chuckle and bushel of his white mustache. "You where chosen to be the Sage of Light because of all people within the rift, you had the kindest and most friendly heart..." He explained to his mortal counter part.

"I guess i should be honored," DJ chuckled back at Rauru before closing his eyes and drifting to a calm sleep.

* * *

**So... REVIEW, and LEAVE COMMENT... please lol, and enjoy the wait or looking back at my stories and chapters...**

**What will happen now? How will this adventure turn out? And how will these leaks into the world of Hyrule effect everyone?  
**


	5. Could it be?: A trip to the Ranch

**Let's cut to the chase: thanks for all the reviews and i hope you like this chapter about mostly nothing lol... or is it?**

* * *

Though the arrow had drilled into his torso, Skull Kid steadily woke himself up with a grit of his teeth due to the pain. _"Hurts, hurts… but s'cool, I'll be back on my legs in no—"_he pumped himself as he desperetly tried to find some way to get to his feet, but failed from the sharp pain of the arrow lodged in his chest.

_"Whatever, I'll just take a nap, wake up, and I'll go right back to Onox and tell him everything,"_ he reasoned as he settled down into the crook under the plaque for more comfort. _"Alright… first, I'm going to tell Onox, then kill Link, then go find that totally gorgeous girl and ask her out… well, I'll do the first two," _he thought as he dreamily slipped into a slumber, thinking transfixed on that girl from earlier. As he laid in drifting rest, the glazed windows that span across the stone walls projected a soft sun light onto him, giving him an actual appearance of peace.

* * *

Onox stood proud with a smug chilling smirk on his face as the mass of people in the room looked to him with vain glares. The only sound that sounded within the room was the soft crackling of the fires that hung around the walls and at the foot of the throne's columns. "I believe that should be sufficient proof of what I informed you of, is it not?" Onox mocked while look throught the room.

Upon the throne, a light flicker of a small triangle emanated out of the shadows. "Proof of what you said or not… this is still a bad sign," the dark voice noted in admittance.

Veran took a quick step forward to get infront of Onox, looking directly at the throne with fierce determination. "Please, my lord, send me to stop these little annoyances," she pleaded with a hand over her heart.

"How amusing, you pleadge with your heart when you don't have one," Onox whispered from behind her, sending a dark shiver up her spine.

She ignored his comment and waited for her master's order. "…No," he replied bluntly as he pushed himself out of his chair.

Veran's face turned to a stunning shock and gaped her mouth for a brief moment. "B-but your highness…"

"I have bigger plans for you… in the mean time…" he lifted his hand up out of the shadows of his throne, then snapped his fingers. Almost instantly, shadows across the room slithered across the room, gathering more shadows as they drew closer and closer to his arm. When they finaly arrived to his arm, they curled around it like a coil. "You know what you must do…" he spoke, looking to the shadow on his arm. It scrunched up onto his arm into a ball and went to the tip of his hand. "Now go!" He ordered as he flung his hand out, throwing the shadow towards the door.

It spat to the crack between the double doors and slowly squeezed through it, disappearing into the staircase behind it. The mass of people looked as it occurred with curious looks and confusion. "Should he fail, I will need a back up plan… where's Byrne?" He shouted, making all but a few cringe.

The man in the chameleon helmet walked forward and snickered nervously. "Uh, yeah, bout' that…" He started, then took a gulp as the man stepped out from out of the shadows completely.

"Where is he, Zant?" He growled as he walked over to him, glaring down at him with a venomous glare.

Zant looked up at his dark skinned and partially armored leader, his flairing red hair complementing his rage. "Ya' see… he went to Kakariko villege…" Zant replied with a meak tone and shutter.

"What? Why in hell would he be there?" He barked with a flutter if his cape and widening of his menacing eyes.

* * *

A young women with red hair and pointed ears stood with a roll of her eyes as a tall, well built man with a black pony-tail that had a green streak through it smiled down at her through a pail green scarf over his mouth. "So come on, Cuckoo chick. Let's get out of this no horse town and do something exciting, huh?" He insisted as he leaned onto the wooden fence that kept the girl's flock of birds safe.

"Sorry, but I'm not interested," She replied with a flip of her nose into the air and a proud walk away.

The man fumbled back to a stand and staggered after her. "H-hey!" He called out to her, but came to a halt when he caught sight of another girl in the distance. "You know what they say… one door closes," He whipped out his left hand, which was a gauntlet that had sharp blade fingers and a black and silver coloring to it. "And you can kick open a new one," His hand fired off of his arm with a long steel chain clicking behind it until it made contact with a near by wall.

Tightening the chain link, he pulled himself through the air to his fired off hand. "YAHOOO! I love this new feeling!" He cheered as he soared through the air.

* * *

"Doing… evil I guess," Zant replied with a shrug.

"I don't have time for his or anyone's stupidity today… I need to know what that light was that just passed through my castle," Their leader ranted while he stopped off back to his throne. "So…" He spun around and faced his gathered minions with a vicious scowl. "Listen up, maggots! I want you all out there to find out what that was… and if you find the two others who bare this mark," He put his hand up as he continued to rant at them. "I want you to end them on the spot… got it?"

"As you wish my lord," Onox replied, speaking on behalf of everyone.

"Good… await further instructions from me should the matter arise that I will need you to carry out a special task…" He dismissed them with a wave if his hand before planting himself down into his throne.

As the group of people filed out to carry out their mission, Onox remained with their leader. "Lord Ganondorf," A disgruntled sigh escaped the throne at Onox's call.

"What is it, Onox?"

"Have you noticed that people are acting out of their norm…? Even some of their appearances have altered…" He noted as he recalled some of the things that happened after the light.

"You're right… but we will have to leave it at that for now. For now it's but a casualty on the side. Now go and carry out your mission," Ganondorf ordered him with a gesture of his hand to leave.

"As you wish… your majesty…" He replied hesitantly before followed the rest of the group. _"Weak minded idiota," _Onox cursed under his mind before closing the doors behind him with a slam.

* * *

A glairng orb of white light twinkled over one of the hills in the fields of Hyrule, rippling as it dropped Trent down onto his back. Seconds after him, the light spat out Courtney whose landing was softened as her hind landed bluntly atop Trent's gut. With a widen of his eyes, he coughed out a dry heave of pain, which Courtney took heed of and pushed herself off his chest. "I'm so sorry Trent! That stupid thing just spat me out," She apologized as she helped him up with him smiling and holding his stomach.

"Heh, it's alright... better you then Owen," He joked as he straitened himself and gave her a reassuring smile.

Courtney snickered at his joke in welcoming dismissal of her accident. For a moment, the only noise around them wasn't anything but the soft breezes over the vast land, bringing with it an awkward silence. Suddenly, Beth flipped a crease in Trent's hat and zoomed out, looking between the two somewhat embarrassed teens with a nervous look of uncertainty. _"Trent and Courtney... maybe?"_she thought before lowering between them, drawing their attention to her.

"Oh right, Beth... we need to get to the Forest Temple so, you know, do that navigation thing you do," Courtney instructed with a flip of her hand in her direction, while trying to brush off her embarrassment.

Beth bobbed in the air before drifting upward and scanning the scenery. A few moments of silence later, she looked down at the pair looking up at her in anticipation. "Uh... before we go to the forest, do you mind if we take two itsy-bitty stops?" Beth asked politely down to the two of them.

With a roll of her onyx eyes, Courtney grumbled in protest. "We don't have time for any dentures or side tracks-"

"Hang on Courtney, maybe we should hear her out. It could actually be helpful," Trent insisted as he rested his palm on Courtney's metal shoulder plate in reassurance.

She opened her mouth to insist against it, but slid it closed with a nod with a sink of her shoulders. _"No fight? Not even a scoff or a snipy comeback... it almost makes me feel bad," _Trent thought before nodding to Beth, who grinned and drifted down to them again.

"Sweet! Follow me! I'll bring you two to Lon Lon ranch first before we see the Great Fairy," Beth explained excitedly before bursting across the field in a buzzing glow.

Courtney and Trent quickly ran after her with curious looks to one another. "Why do you think we're going to a ranch first before seeing something called a Great Fairy? Frankly, Great Fairy sounds alot more helpful," Courtney mused as her arms pumped back and forth in front of her as she chased Beth.

"Don't know... but for some reason, Great Fairy is giving me a weird vibe just hearing it," Trent pointed out as he dashed across the field, crushing bunches of grass under his boots as he took a step.

Unbeknownst to them, a shadow slithered close behind them slowly. "...Link..." A harsh voice hissed from the thin shadow before striking through the grass at them.

Trent peaked his head behind to see if there was anything since he just heard a faint voice, but only saw a meadow of grass. "Something wrong Trent?" Courtney asked with a side glance to him while still following Beth.

He shook his head and gave her a reassuring smirk. "Naa, just hearing things," He replied, picking up his pace so not to fall behind.

* * *

Coming to a halt, Beth gazed in wounder at the site before her. Before her was a small dirt track that moved between two small heights of rock. "I can't believe it, it's actually Lon Lon Ranch, _the _Lon Lon-" Courtney quickly pinched her index finger and thumb around Beth's small little wings and gave her a glare as she caught up with her.

"We don't have time for a nerd flash, Beth. Let's just get what we came here for and get out," Courtney ordered as she held Beth so she could see her annoyed face.

With a fearful gulp, Beth nodded and Courtney released her. Beth lead the way through the small crevice of a path for the two of them, leading them to a small clearing with a wooden cottage and barn to to the sides of the entryway. "It's very..." Trent started to say with an admiring smile on his face.

"Dull and old fashioned?" Courtney insisted with a fold of her arms as she looked around the small ranch.

Trent furrowed his brows and looked to Beth nervously. "Uh, Beth? We better get what we came here for before Courtney here starts something with who ever owns this place," Beth nodded in agreement to Trent's notion and lead them through the small passage between the two wooden structures.

What they came to see at the end of the passage was a much larger opening with a fenced off area that held a few horses of assorted colors and a small dirt track that outlined the ovel fence. Trent grinned in wounder at the calming sight of the ranch, the small cuckoo clucking flowing around the open air. Courtney even smiled a little as she saw the horses galloping around in the fence. While they looked around the unfamiliar area -and Beth hummed the tone to Lon Lon Ranch as she nostalgically remembered playing in this area back home- a blond haired girl walked over to them with a red horse following next to her as she held it's yoke. "Excuse me, this is private property... i think," She called to them, snapping them out of their sight seeing and looked to her.

"We're so sorry, we didn't mean to trespass or anything," Trent explained as he took a step closer to her and looked her in her face.

His heart skipped a beat when he recognized the empty minded look in the girl's Sapphire eyes. It seemed Courtney picked up on it too since she took a few steps closer as well. _"Besides that white top, velvet long skirt, and pointed ears... it looks just like Lindsey," _Trent thought as he examined her body, invoking a crimson blush on the girl's face.

"Been a while since a guy's ever checked me out," she giggled as she tilted her head.

Trent flinched with a look of surprise and a dagger eyed look from Courtney. "What? No, i wasn't checking you out," her arms slumped and her face turned to disappointment.

"Oh... By the way, I'm Malon, my dad owns this ranch," She introduced herself as she extended her slender hand to Trent.

Trent cupped his gloved hand around her hand and shook it. "I'm Link and this is Zelda," Malon gasped and put a hand over her mouth before looking to Courtney.

"Princess Bella?" She gasped with wide eyes at Courtney who curtsied at her in humoring nature.

_"He just said my name you dim witted clod,"_ Courtney grumbled inwordly but forced a friendly smile as she looked to her. "Yes, Princess _Zelda,_that's me, the one and only," Courtney replied with a cool smile and domineer.

Malon squealed and ran up to her. "The real princess! Your even prettier in person!" She complemented as she looked over 'Zelda's' clothing and looks. Courtney giggled to herself and smiled at Malon.

"Why thank you,"

"But... what are you doing here? Don't you have princessy duties and stuff to do?" Malon asked before looking to 'Link' and leaning closer to 'Zelda'. "Are you out here so no one will find you two dating?" She asked bluntly in a hushed tone.

Courtney let out a small yelp with a blush then shook her head. "Of course not!" She snapped back with a curl of her fist.

"Oh... well then can i date him?" She asked immediately with a desiring glance over to Trent, who was looking around the ranch, waiting for the two of them to finish calmly.

Courtney pressed her index finguer to her freckled forehead in frustration then sighed in attempt to calm herself. Trent took a quick glance at the two talking girls before he turned to Beth who was floating above his shoulder. "So... what did we come here for?" He asked Beth, trying to get to the point.

Beth swerved to face him with an apologetic smile. "Oh yeah, sorry i forget to tell you. We're here to get Epona, that horse with her," Beth explained as she turned Trent's attention to the auburn horse.

"Her horse? How am i supposed to ask for her pet horse?" Trent ask Beth quietly so Malon wouldn't hear.

As Malon continued to yap off at Courtney, Courtney eyed over at Trent to gather what he was thinking. "Malon, can i ask you a favor?" Courtney ask, interrupting Malon mid-ramble.

"Oh, what do you need Princess Zoe?" She asked as Trent eyed Epona, hinting to Courtney what they wanted.

"Uh... can i borrow your horse?" Malon looked dumbfounded between 'Zelda' and Epona.

"My Epona? My bestest friend in the entire world?" Malon questioned as she caressed Epona's long face lovingly while also stroking down the length of her face.

"...yes?" Courtney replied unsure with a raise of her brow.

Malon shoved the black ranes that where latched to Epona with a cherry smile. "Okey-dokey, just remember feed her lots and lots of carrots... she loves them so much, i know it's for rabbits, but she still likes them... Weird but it's true," Malon explained as she ran her hand in Epona's mane, raising her to nay in enjoyment.

Courtney took the reins and gave Malon a thankful but confused smile and curtsy. _"Anyone else, and they wouldn't have given up so easy," _Courtney thought as she led the horse to Trent and Beth.

They exchanged glances to one another before Trent hopped up on top of Epona. Almost immediately, she flared her nostrils and bucked upward, flinging Trent off her back with a thud. Malon bit her lip as she walked over to him and helped him back to his feet with sympathetic eyes. "I forgot to mention she doesn't let anyone but me ride her..."

"That would've been useful information a few minutes ago," Courtney mumbled under her breathe.

As she brushed Trent off, she noticed something dangling off his pant lining. "Is that an ocarina?" She asked curiously as she tapped it with her fingers.

"Uh, yeah, why?" Trent replied as he picked it off his waist and looked it over.

"Oh, then i can teach you a song that Epona loves so she'll listen to you,"

"That's... oddly convenient..." Courtney pointed out. Trent agreed to Malon's offer with a nod, summoning a great smile across her face.

She quickly pulled a piece of sheet music from one of Epona's saddle bags and handed it to Trent. As he eyed it down, he gave Malon a some what disturbed look. "You keep a piece of sheet music to control your horse in it's sattle bag?" Malon nodded obliviously while Trent just shrugged. "Just checking..." He mumbled before tucking the paper away in his pocket.

"With that, we have to be making our departure," Courtney anounced as she grasped Epona's reins again and guided her out of the ranch slowly.

Trent nodded and followed after her with Beth looming over his shoulder. "Awww... come and visit next time your near by!" She called over to them then blew a kiss at 'Link' with a wink. "Especially you, Link!" Trent stiffened his back but continued to follow Courtney, who rolled her eyes in anger.

_"She can't remember my name but when she sees an attractive, good looking guy she-"_ Courtney's eyes grew wide and her heart skipped a beat as she realized what she just thought._ "I mean... i don't think of Trent in a romantic way, we've only started being friends," _She protested to herself as she shook her head side to side vigorously with her cheeks burning red.

_"Keep telling yourself that..." _she heard wisp through her mind.

Courtney paid it no mind, thinking it purely as this world finally getting to her mind as she entered the narrow pathway back to the field with Trent close behind. "Well, over all, i think this was actually a good pit stop," Trent laughed as he cought up to Courtney and walked along side her.

"Do you say that for the horse?" Courtney gestured to Epona with a raise of her black reins then pointed back at the ranch without a look back. "Or the flirty farm girl?" Trent looked away in nervous protest at Courtney's assumption.

As they came to the wooden arches at the bottom of the trail, they saw a short figure with a witch like hat leaning on one of the wooden polls that stand it up. "Hold it right there, Link," He ordered as he stumbled in front of them, blocking their path.

"Great... Skull Kid..." Courtney yawned with annoyance at the sight of the short staw boy.

"You think your all that huh? Thinking you get all the ladies," Skull Kid hissed with a shake of his fist at Trent.

"Wait, when did you get here and when did i say-"

"Quite you! You lost the privilege to talk when you where talking to my girl!" He barked with a stomp of his foot.

Trent rose one of his eye brows in interest at Skull Kid's words. "Your girl? So you're together?" Skull Kid froze for a second then nervously shifted his feet and looked at the ground.

"Uh, no... but i was getting to it..." He muttered then took a fighting stance with a shift of his feet. "But then you up and took her away!"

"I didn't do-"

"Enough of your lies!" He barked ignoring Trent's words as his mask 'eyes' started to glow a blinding yellow and green light as he looked to Trent.

After a few moments, his eyes stopped glowing and he folded his arms in front of his chest triumphantly. Trent looked himself over before looking around him, getting a shrug from Beth and Courtney when they noticed nothing happened. "Did you... do something?" Trent asked with a slight scoffing laugh.

"Oh, you'll see, Link... you'll all see," Skull Kid laughed as he jumped into the air and floated for a few seconds. "And as for you princess," he growled as he pointed to Courtney, who still hadn't shown any signs of interest.

"I'm gonna' pay you back for those two arrows you shot at me... Do you know how much of a pain it is to yank an arrow out of your arm and torso? It aint' easy!" He fumed as his hands started to spark with a light green flow of energy. "Now, it's time for some-" Skull Kid leaned back as a ball of energy formed in his palm.

"Oh, Link!" They all heard a voice call them from behind as the blond headed farm girl trotted up after them.

Skull Kid flinched and the energy ball faded from his hand as he franticly looked around. "Oh crap, we'll finish this later!" He cursed with a stutter before twirling around in the air and disappearing into a dark puff of dark energy.

Malon finally caught up with them as she held a jug filled with a white liquid close to her chest. "Glad i didn't miss you, i wanted to give you this Lon Lon Milk for your trip or whatever your doing," She insisted as she pushed it to Trent's chest.

Trent looked at it then held it in the air with a triumphant smile. The three girls looked at him confused as he held the pose for a few moments. "Link... what're you doing?" Courtney finaly asked.

"I don't know... i saw Link do it in the video game all the time, so i wanted to see how it felt," Trent admitted, retrieving odd looks from Courtney and Malon, and an understanding one from Beth.

"Well... i don't get anything you just said... but I hope you enjoy it. And if you don't mind, can you do me a favor?" She asked as Trent tucked the jug into one of Epona's saddle bags.

"What do you need?"

"Well, i met this _way_cute guy in town today, he was being attacked by cuckoos when i met him. And when i looked in his- i think it was his eyes- i saw like something deep," She explained as she stroked her blond hair embarrassed.

"And what does this have to do with us?"

"Oh, right! Well, Link, since your probably already going on some adventure and junk... i wanted you to tell that guy where i live so i can meet him again," She explained with a cute smile and a lean forward into Trent.

Courtney fumed as she looked on at Malon flirting to get what she wanted from Trent. Trent took a deep gulp as his cheeks flared red. "Sure, I'll be glad to," He agreed with a nod.

Malon jumped for joy and threw her slender arms around his neck and pressed her chest to his side. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" She thanked then pecked Trent on his cheek before running back home with a wave good-bye.

Absent minded, Trent stroked his cheek with a goofy smile before getting a deathly glair from Courtney. "...What?" He asked Courtney in confusion.

She simply stuck her nose in the air and guided Epona away with her. Trent groaned to himself and followed after her with a hang og his arms in disappointment. _"Great... she's angry now. This isn't going to be easy anymore,"_ he thought as Beth flew off ahead of them and looked back at the two of them: The fuming mad Princess, and the saddened fool of a hero.

_"Trent and Courtney... yeah... it just might work," _Beth thought as she gestured them to follow her again to the next stop. They followed her as they headed north of the ranch across the feild, utter quite surrounding them except the twinkling sound Beth's fairy glow made and the hefty breathing Epona sounded out as she trotted next to Courtney.

* * *

**REVIEW and tell others lol. And sorry this one was alittle later then the others, i don't work on the weekends much.**

**Could Trent and Courtney end up together?**

**What was that shadow that was stalking Trent?**

**Why is Skull Kid such a wimp?**

**And for god sake... when will they go to the next Temple?**

**Three out of four of these will be answered in the next chapter... or will it?**


	6. The Great Fairy: The Plot Thickens

**From some feed back I got from some of you, i decided to use this chapter to expand on what the HECK is going on... please enjoy and REVIEW or leave a COMMENT.**

* * *

"_The deviation between what is real and what is surreal is not obvious, but oblivious._ Gee, how original…" A scrawny boy with shady violet cape and long shirt mumbled as he skimmed through a book while he sat in an old book store.

A commotion of people looked upon him in fear as he sat down at on an empty table with a stack of books lying next to him. He glanced up from his book with a lazy glimpse in his eyes behind his slumped cap. With a disgruntled sigh, he slammed his book closed and stood up from his chair, making the people flinch and back away more from him. Picking up the clad of books, he tucked them under his arm pit and cloak and walked to the wood exit. "I'm taking these books," He informed the casher as he passed him, not even giving him eye contact.

The cashier nodded and cowered behind his counter. Before exiting the dimly lit store, he looked to the counter and picked up a cup with a dark aroma drifting from it. "Do you mind?" He asked sarcastically as he picked it up and opened the door with a kick of his foot.

Walking out onto the cobblestone plaza of castle town, it took him a moment to adjust to the glairing noon sun. With a sip of the coffee he scanned the scenery. _"The other slackers probably already gathered all their information by now," _he reasoned while taking a deep sip of the hot drink.

His sipping came to a halt as he saw a green tunic dressed man in the distance heading north through the plaza with an elegantly dressed lady riding a steed close behind. The boy spat his drink out in an explosion of surprise with widened eyes and a staggered step back. "Link!" He squeaked in disbelief, but narrowed his eyes as he took a closer look. "…no, that's not Link. His hair is black… and he doesn't walk with the same heroic essence the fairy boy walked with," He noted as he took careful examinations of him.

"But if he's not Link…" His eyes shot wide again and he opened one of his books as he dropped his cup.

Flipping through the crisp pages, he came to a page entitled "Incarnation of the Triforce". He studied it carefully for a moment then shut it with another slam. "The summoning of Ganondorf's 'Triforce of Power' is a telling sign that the other two wielders have been shown again… so that concludes that those two are in fact the other wielders… who else would dress like that if they had a choice?" He mused deeper; people in the street eyeing him as they saw him mumbling to himself.

"But why or how did they—the light!" He snapped his fingers with realization. "That light must have been a sort of summoning force of them into this world… but the question is: If they're not from this world… then where?" picking at his own brain, he pondered over all possible reasoning.

Spirit realm, time travelers… but then he drew to the most sensible reasoning. "…Different reality… It's just as Skull Kid said: he walked into another world where he saw the same people from this world, only leading completely different lives. I dismissed the whole thing as some crazy rambling and imagination from all those years alone… but what if he's right. What if there is a Termina… or even more so, what if there is an infinite number of multi-verses… If so, than that makes it possible that they're from another dimension. Even more so, that would also explain why many people are acting out of their usual self, that somehow, their world is leaking into ours and ours is leaking into theirs," He snapped his fingers again and picked up all his books.

"I should report this to Ganondorf… we can finally make sense of this whole thing now," he muttered before throwing his cape around him and fading away into a dark smoke.

Two men that where nearby looked to each other with baffled looks. "You follow all that?"

"All I got out of that was that some world is leaking or flowing into ours…" The two exchanged on the strange event as the dark smoke dissipated into the air, leaving nothing where it once started.

* * *

"So Beth," Trent started as he and Courtney, who was riding the calm Epona, walked down a wide dirt road pass the city. "Where is this Great Fairy?" He asked as Beth sat on his shoulder with a restful smile.

"It's just down this road, passed the guard station," Beth explained as she pointed her small stubby hand forward at a large draw gate with a guard standing at either side of it.

Courtney slid off Epona then stroked her face before giving Beth a glair as Trent turned around. "Okay, handling a dim witted farm girl was easy, but how are we supposed to get pass—"

"It's the princess! Open the gate!" One of the guards shouted to the top of the gate.

Slowly, the gate rumbled and slid open with a wisp of dust as it moved. Beth smugly smirked at Courtney before Trent walked through the gate and gave the guards a head nod. "…Touché," Courtney remarked then lead Epona through the gate.

They continued to walk a wide dirty road with a hill on both sides of it, guards watching vigilantly across the green hills. "Pretty top notch security force they have here… you know, for a civilization that hasn't invented surveillance cameras yet," Courtney noted as they looked left and right at all the pacing and surveying guards.

"Yeah, they must really love their Royal Family," Trent replied with a noticeably at peace look on his face.

They continued to walk down the road in silence until they came to a small fork in the road. Looking down the path to the left, he saw that it lead to the towering castle of Hyrule and the other lead to a dead end with a boulder seemingly jammed in the rock face. "We're here!" Beth cheered as she zipped out in front of them and fluttered over the boulder.

Courtney took a few steps closer to it as well, leaving Epona behind and giving Beth a narrowing look. "I assume it's behind this boulder?" She asked and was responded by Beth's twinkling nod. "Then how do you suppose we get rid of it?" Trent thought for a moment, and then looked up at the sky.

"I have an idea… but I'll need you to stand back for a second," He instructed them as he put his hand to the boulder.

Not sure of what he was planning, but not planning to fight him about this, Courtney took a few steps back to Epona with Beth close on her shoulder. Trent looked around and smiled nervously as he cleared his throat audibly. "Gee, it would be nice to have a big hammer right now," He let out, looking to the sky with unsure eagerness.

Courtney shook her head in disbelief and started to walk back to him. "That was your plan? They're not going to give us anything now that we've already started our quest. That's just idiotic," Courtney scolded to a still sky watching Trent.

After a few minutes, Trent lowered his head and looked to Courtney. "It was worth a try," He pointed out then started looking around again. "So, Beth. How do you plan we get it open then?" Beth scanned around then took a deep sigh of regret.

"I don't know… I thought we could figure something out if we came here. Guess not," She muttered before weakly flying back to the city.

Trent and Courtney exchanged sympathetic looks and followed Beth on her way out. "Perhaps I can be of assistance?" They heard a voice ask from behind them.

The spun around to see a tall guard standing next to the rock with his face hiding behind his helmet. "Don't trouble yourself," Courtney insisted with a look at him.

The man smirked through his exposed mouth then put his hand on the boulder. "Well, forgive me for trying anyway, your majesty," He chuckled before wedging his spear into a crevice between the boulder and the hole it blocked.

With a bend of the shaft, he attempted to wedge it out with all his force. They smiled in respect at the man's struggle, but saw he wasn't making any movement with it. "Thank you but—" Suddenly, a silver glint in the sky caught Courtney's eye and she looked up before her face went to disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me…" She whispered under her breath as Trent smirked when he saw the silver glint too.

Suddenly, the boulder shattered in a puff of a dirt and rubble cloud, sending the guard stumbling back. The guard rubbed his helmed head with a proud smile as he got up. "Guess I don't know my own strength," He laughed before walking towards the castle after a bow to his 'princess'.

Trent took a few steps forward as the cloud cleared and reached his hand down. His hands came in contact with a black hand grip and he hoisted up a shining silver hammer out of the dust. "Well you look at that… a hammer," Trent sarcastically pointed out before clasping it to Epona's side after waving it proudly at Courtney.

"That… that…" Courtney rambled as Trent and Beth walked into the dark entryway that the boulder previously blocked. "Oh whatever…" She cursed and followed after them.

Trent continued to snicker to himself as he walked to the entryway, but suddenly his feet stopped moving. He looked down at his feet in confusion as he tried to lift his left foot up, only for it to be seemingly held in place. "Something wrong Trent?" Courtney asked with a glance back.

With a grip to his foreleg, he yanked it up off the ground. As it escaped the dirt floor, his leg seemed to go back to its usual weight but his other was still not moving. "No, just having a problem walking is all… I'll handle it," He assured her as he continued to yank leg after leg of the ground and another step forward.

Courtney just shrugged and disappeared into the dark entryway while Trent struggled after her. "Why won't my feet move…?" Trent asked himself as he walked into the entryway as well, his feet continuingly being held to the ground.

* * *

Through the dark entryway, was a marvelous pearl white room with dark walls that sparkled with small twinkles of light flowing down the darkness like water. A white washed smooth brick path stretched from the entrance to a large pool with a statue of the triforce placed on both sides of the foot of the pool. Though there weren't any lighting sources, the room had a calming light that lit the whole room corner to corner. Courtney steadily stepped forward into the room as Trent finally got in with his legs acting normal again. He caught up to Courtney on her side and looked out at the pool of water. Beth fluttered out in front of them and hovered over a golden triforce pattern done on the floor in front of the pool. "Trent, you have to play your ocarina here," She instructed him as she pointed down at the marking.

Trent shrugged and unlatched his ocarina from his hip while he walked up on the marker. Putting the wind way of the ocarina he gave a look back at Courtney. "Any requests?" He asked in a joking tone. Courtney put a hand over her mouth to stop from him seeing her laugh at that. Seeing she actually did laugh, he looked to Beth. "I'm sure I have to play something special, and I pretty much can't play this thing, so…" Beth nodded and landed on the edge of the ocarina.

"Just put your fingers down where I point and blow on at the same time," She instructed as her hand pointed to one of the holes.

Trent, following Beth's hand points, played a crackly and ill done version of "Zelda's Lullaby". Courtney cringed at the harsh notes and shaky playing. Trent slowly pulled the ocarina away and grinned shakily. "Umm, ta-da?" He cheered emptily as he looked around.

Suddenly, the water of the pool rippled and a small figure twirled out of the middle with a hearty laugh. "Not the usual way of playing it…" The being stated and started to grow as she twirled like a ballerina on the water surface. "…But I'll make an exception for you three!" She cheered as she finally made her full size, her long violet hair flowing out in the air behind her as she floated above the water.

With somewhat shock in their faces, they noticed the being before them looked like a familiar fan girl from their world. "I mean, oh my Goddess! You're _the _Link and Zelda… well, from a different world but it's still you!" She cheered with a squeal and clap of her hands in excitement.

For a moment, the three of them staggered in shock at what she said. "You know that we're not from this word?" Courtney finally let out as she clasped her hands together in worry.

"Duh, of course I do. As the Great Fairy I see everything! So yeah, I saw you two talking to Rauru and how you two talk with each one another. EEEEE, this is so awesome!" Trent and Courtney looked to each other with a nod.

"Good you know, so then we're not going to have to mince words about why we're here," Trent explained with a look back at the Great Fairy.

The Great Fairy's dark skinned face turned serious despite her still excited eyes. "Yeah, I'll give you something that will help you _a-lot_ during your quest…" She informed them with a snort as she put her hands up to Trent.

He looked at her palms carefully as red sparkles of energy flowed to the middle of her hands from around the room. Slowly, the lights converged and exploded in a flash of light, creating a glass prism with a red flame like flicker floating in the center of it. "This is Din's Fire… it can totally fry anything and when you use it, it surrounds you in an expanding fire that will hurt anything that touches it," Trent cupped it out of her hand and examined it.

"Then… wouldn't it hurt the person who used it?"

"You think it would, but it won't harm whoever's holding the charm," she explained as she floated back a little.

Trent walked back to Courtney with Beth over his shoulder. Courtney took the prism from Trent with a snatch and stowed it away in her quiver. "We thank you Great Fairy," Courtney thanked with a bow and a curtsy.

"You don't need to thank me. I just want you guys to hurry and stop your world from merging into ours, or lots of people will be hurt or worse…" The Great Fairy warned them with a stern wag of her finger.

"Yeah, about that… I've been wondering how that's exactly bad. I understand that it sounds pretty bad, but maybe you can explain more to us," The Great Fairy gasped and put her hand in front of her mouth.

"It'll be horrible! If your world breaks into yours or ours breaks into yours, Ganondorf will be able strike the exposed dimensional fissure and go into more worlds, and if he does that… I don't even want to think of what will happen then," She shuttered at the thought of all the worlds being exposed.

"I see… Trent, we better hurry," Courtney ordered to Trent, receiving a nod of determination from him.

The two of them started to walk out; when the Great Fairy started to twirl around again with another laugh. "So long you two! I'll be rooting for you! And –oh- remember to come visit me at my other homes," She called after them before sinking down into her fountain.

Trent flipped his head back and snickered lightly when she left. "She sure acts like Sierra,"

"Oh yeah,"

"Defiantly," The girls agreed with nods of their head as the three of them exited the Great Fairy's home and entered the sunny outside world of Hyrule.

* * *

Guards stood at attention with honoring salutes and stiff stands as 'Zelda' walked through the guard gate with her horse and green tunic clothed comrade. But, standing on top of the gate, Skull Kid fumed as they walked under him. "Why hasn't my spell taken effect yet? This is getting lame with all my waiting," He pouted with a thud of his butt to the stone edge of the gate's top.

He continued to watch them as they winded through the course of the dirt road back to Castle Town. "Guess I'll just have to be patient. But the second he puts his guard down and my spell takes effect…" He leapt to his feet and did a quick shop in the air and a spinning aerial kick. "I'll break him up to the extreme!" He spun his arm behind him and swung at the air in front of him a stretching left hook.

Suddenly, he lost balance and stumbled off the edge with a sharp scream before colliding his face to the ground with a thud. The guards at the gate quickly ran up to him with clanks and shifts in their armor at every step. "Child, are you injured?" One of them asked as Skull Kid pushed himself up off the ground with a dizzying step back.

"Graah, yes Malon, I would love another cup of jerky," He rambled disorient before staggering down the road to Castle City. The guards exchanged confused looks but returned back to their posts none the less.

* * *

"So we have the horse, Din's Fire, and we have a furthering reason why we need to do this. Are we ready to go to the Forest Temple now?" Courtney asked as she sat mounted on Epona after Trent calmed her down with a terribly played version of her song.

Beth looked around then nodded when she figured out the way. "Yup, we're good to go! Next stop…" She started before buzzing off in at a blurring pace to the south east.

"The Forest Temple!" Trent and Courtney cheered together as Trent hopped up on top of Epona, in front of Courtney. "Hold on, Princess," Trent joked as he took Epona's reins and lurched her to the left to show he had control.

For a second, she was quite then she put her arms around Trent's waist and held her arms together tightly around him. Trent felt her soft even breathing brushing against his lower back and her chest pressing slightly to him as well. _"…Duncan used to call me princess,"_ her mind sorrowfully drifted back to Duncan as Trent made Epona trot off after Beth.

Trent looked back at Courtney with her saddened face then furrowed his eyes brows in regret. _"Duncan used to call her that, stupid… You have to be careful if you want her to like you… as a, friend,"_ He scolded himself as his mind started to course with thoughts of Courtney and Duncan.

The rest of the ride across the Hylian Fields where done so in utter silence, other than the ensuing trots and huffs of Epona.

"_Wait… why is it when I called her princess it made her feel bad but when everyone else did it she didn't care…?"_

"_Hold on, why is it when he called me princess it actually made me feel horrible but when all the other people called me it I didn't care…?"_

_

* * *

_

**I hope this helped make things clear, or make this less clear. Anyway, please REVIEW or leave a COMMENT.**

**What is going to happen next?**

**Will they actully make it to the Forest Temple?**

**And why was Trent having trouble picking up his feet?**

**For once, all of that will be answered in the next actully action like chapter.**


	7. Sage of Forest: Dark side of the Woods

**Could it be? Actule action? So it is. I'm sorry about the last chapter... i didn't get as far as i wanted, but this will make up for everything.**

**Note that from this chapter on, I'll be asking a question of the day... so leave a REVIEW, COMMENT, and/or ANSWER THE QUESTION and i might post it up for everyone to see.**

* * *

The lost Woods, the name alone brings up nothing but horrifying thoughts of the man sized spiders and no faced boys that creep through the dark woods. Rarely did a man or woman ever enter the woods, less they lose themselves among the winding paths and blackening trees. It seemed not even sound could find its way through the shaded ways and still life; since not a sound ever came in or out. A small rope bridge with rickety planks of wood framing a path to one side and another stretched the small crevice between Hyrule Field and the inner forest. The boards creaked and wobbled as an auburn horse trotted across it gingerly as a boy atop her settled back looked from one side to the other as a girl behind him tightened her hold around his waist. Freeing one of his hands from the reins of the horse, he rested it protectively on the girl's hand. Her hand was warm through the glove she wore, but trembled just so as the horse crossed the rope bridge. "It'll be alright, Courtney. It's just a bridge," He comforted her with a pat of her hand.

Slowly, he felt her fingers lace between his so she was holding his hand in front of his chest. "I know… but it still feels nice to be comforted like this," She whispered into his back, making his back tingle.

They became silent again until Epona reached the end of the bridge and Beth waited with her wings fluttering in front of a large hole that looked like a giant hollowed out stump on its side. They took this as a queue to get off the horse as Trent flung his legs around the side after Courtney undid her hold around him. Once his feet hit the dull dirt ground, he put his hand to Courtney to help her down; which she eagerly took with a pleased smile. _"At least he knows chivalry isn't dead,"_ she mumbled in her mind before planting her feet firmly on the ground.

For a short lived moment, they looked at each other with friendly grins on their faces. "Uh… guys?" They snapped back to reality and turned to Beth with blushing faces.

"Anyway… this is the Lost Woods… as the name should say, it's hard to find your way around the Lost Woods and people tend to get lost," Trent and Courtney took in a nervous gulp at the horrible foretelling by Beth. "But good news is that I know the way to the Forest Temple, and we'll be there in no time once we go through Kokiri Village," Beth explained with a calming tone to brush away their worry.

They sighed in relief but Courtney peaked one of her brows up after processing the information. "Kokiri Village?"

"Yeah, its home to the Kokiris, a race of ageless children that believe if they exit this village, they'll die… But we'll only need to walk through here for a quick second to get to the upper level of the forest," Beth informed them before heading through the dark passage.

Courtney nodded to Trent before following Beth into the dark. "I guess I have to tie down Epona?" He called to them, but sighed when they didn't say anything back.

He grabbed Epona's reins and tied them around the wooden post of the rope bridge. "Don't move so much while we're gone, Epona… this is our only way out I think," He joked as he ran his hand through the calm horse's mane.

With a look at Epona's side, he saw the hammer they received earlier. He thought for a moment then unhooked it from Epona and latched it to his back on his leather strap. "Better safe than sorry…" He mused before running off after the girls.

* * *

In contrary to the Lost Woods that surround the village, the village had a lighter aura and a large clearing of trees so sun could actually touch the deep green land below. Even so, the looming of the towering trees around the forest still gave it a dank and heavy aura to it. They noticed small houses carved out of large trees scattered around the clearing… but no life. Not waiting for any monsters or unwelcomed distractions, they followed Beth as they walked across the dew covered grass to a small ramp that lead to another stump pathway at the top. "I thought you said that people lived here?" Courtney asked as they climbed up the grassy hill.

"Not a lot of people live here, but a few do… I just don't know where they are… maybe they can feel the rift in the worlds and decided to hide?" Beth reasoned while looking out at the dead quiet village.

Once they reached the top of the grass incline, they saw someone standing in the way of the entrance to the forest. "Great… Another stupid obstacle…" Courtney cursed with a shake of her fist.

Trent eyed the man down and noticed he was considerably shorter than him and wore the similar green tunic clothing, only with short sleeves and green shorts. His arms where crossed in front of his chest and he eyed down the two of them, his blonde hair dangling out from under his green hat. His stern face turned kind and he chuckled to himself. Courtney looked to Trent in confusion, which Trent nodded in agreement in. "Why are you laughing?" Trent asked before taking a few steps towards him.

The boy stiffened his hearty laugh and looked up at Trent. "It's just that I've been waiting for hours for you three to get here," He chuckled as he looked to Trent with his deep blue eyes sparking with life.

Beth swooped back and went up to Courtney's ear as she studied the boy. "He looks like a young Geoff…" She whispered to Courtney, who studied him to confirm it.

After studying him enough, she agreed with a look to her fairy friend. "Why where you waiting?" Trent asked while also taking note of his Geoff like features.

"I was doing my rounds in the Lost Woods, when I saw this _smoking_ hot girl near the Forest Temple," The boy stressed the word smoking, which only added to the thought of Geoff. "Well… I didn't actually see her; I saw her figure in the distance. But maaan, what a figure," He laughed, getting an eye roll from Courtney.

"She looked like Saria from as far as I could see, but when I called to her, she disappeared into the Temple…" His happy face sunk to a depression but took in a breath to calm himself back up. "Anyway, after I saw her leave, I saw monsters moving around in there again… which means something aint' right here. So I figured some hero was going to come and save whoever it was in there," He ended with his arms behind his head in relaxation.

"…That's pretty dangerous to bet on," Trent commented with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, I know, but I knew that the person that's supposed to save the temple, and in turn Saria, will know the song that Saria always played and would eventually get here," He furthered his explanation with a calm but sharp look to Trent.

He scanned his clothes then snickered. "Something tells me you know since you're dressed like Link and you're with the Princess," He commented with a smirk.

Trent took his ocarina out from his pocket and studied it for a second. "So you can tell I'm not Link?" Trent asked in a somewhat hushed tone and a narrowed look over the ocarina.

"Yeah… you may dress like Link, but there's something you have that he doesn't," The boy said as he walked up to Trent, reaching to about his waist at his height.

"Really? What's that?"

"Vocal cords," He replied with a hearty laugh and slap of his leg.

Trent snickered a little too while Beth burst into laughter. Courtney just looked between the three of them and scoffed. "I don't get it," She barked with an annoyed look.

The boy striated back up and wiped a tear from his eye. "You don't have to… Anyway, follow me to the temple… oh, and I'm Mido," He introduced himself as he turned around and started to head into the upper level of the Lost Woods.

"Wait. I thought I was supposed to play a song?" Trent asked as he lifted the ocarina up.

"NO!" Courtney and Beth shouted as Courtney snatched the ocarina away from his hand.

Trent looked to them dumbfounded then slumped his shoulders. _"I'm that bad?"_

"I was going to make you, but that ocarina you have there is Saria's… that's good enough for me. So let's roll!" He cheered as he stepped through the passage followed by a pleased Courtney and Trent.

Beth looked back at the village one last time and started to follow after them. She halted for a split second when she noticed something odd about Trent. It wasn't Trent per se, but his shadow. Every time Trent took a step, his shadow lagged behind his motion by about a second in copying his movement. What struck her even stranger was that the hilt of Trent's sword pointed over his left shoulder blade while in his shadow, it was on his right. "…Strange world this Hyrule," Beth snorted before flying off after her team.

* * *

The Lost Woods where as silent as a grave, with only minimal light being able to touch even a single blade of grass on the forest floor. At least it would have been silent, but the entire escorting trip, Mido regaled Trent and Courtney with stories about Saria. "Then this other time, Saria went into the Lost Woods and she came back! Can you believe it, _she_ came back from the Lost Woods," He laughed in admiration of his fellow Kokirien.

"Don't you come back from the Lost Woods after your rounds each day?" Courtney asked as the group entered a narrow stretch of grass that had large smooth stone sides stretching on both sides of the path.

"Well yeah. But it's different with Saria. She's just, ya' know, special bra," he defended as he looked down the stretch before them.

"_He must really love this girl… And he never told her, so that must be horrible on his heart. It's understandable that he would hope for Saria to be here,"_ Courtney sympathized as she watched the boy ahead of her guide them further.

They came to a stop as a large moss covered stair case stretched out above them. "This is it, the Forest Temple," He introduced as they looked at the stone, mansion-like building at the top of the stairs while they looked from the bottom. "I'd love to go with you… but I'm no fighter," He laughed as he turned around to them.

"Its fine, just head back home and we'll handle any problem here Saria will be not be disturbed on our watch," Trent assured Mido as he put a hand on his shoulder when he kneeled down onto the cold grass.

Mido smiled with wet eyes and wiped them away. "Aw'man, I'm getting all teary eyed, bra. I'll meet you back at the village. And if you see Saria… tell her I miss her, kay'?" He asked as he walked passed them and headed back home.

"We will Mido!" Courtney called back to him with a wave good bye.

Trent tilted his head and smirked at Courtney while he pushed himself back onto his feet. "If I didn't know any better—" Before he could say anything, she snatched him by his collar and dragged him up the stairs.

"Don't say it," She warned him as she dragged his butt up the stone staircase, hitting his back to the ridged steps each step. Trent's face went into a pain stricken look as he was skidded up and across the staircase.

* * *

The top of the staircase lead to an enclosed area with an old crooked grown tree and great cement grey walls surrounding the entire squared area. The walls were covered in hanging vines that weaved through cracks that ran about every which direction on points in the wall. A large stone slab lay in the middle of the open area with Hylian written around a gray triforce mark done in the center. When Courtney reached the top and let Trent go, she marvled over the ancient slab on the ground. Getting off the ground and rubbing his hind, Trent grumbled curses under his breath about Courtney's roughness. "You could stand to be a little more gentle, Courtney," Trent pointed out to her while walking up behind her.

He matched her look to the slab with the triforce on it and studied it closely. "…So this is the Forest Temple… I pictured it more—"

"Creepy?" Courtney asked trying to finish his sentence.

"Oh, this is plenty creepy. I was thinking there would be –you know- more security and more forest," Trent explained with a somewhat disappointed look around the area.

Courtney looked at him flatly with a turn of her head behind her as if asking him 'really?'. Just then, the area around them became filled with the resounding noise of distorted cackles. Trent swung his sword out without hesitation and eyed around the area to see where the laughing was coming from. Courtney prepped her bow with the same gusto as Trent and sharply glanced around. While the two continued to eye around to no avail of finding an enemy, Beth fluttered down between them as they went back to back for better protection. "_Watch out! _That's the sound of the Poe Sisters," Beth informed them as she quickly hid under Trent's hat for protection.

"Poe? What's a Poe?" Courtney asked as she carelessly lowered her bow.

Almost instantly a blue raggedy sheet ghost twirled to visibility in front of her with a lantern in its boney black hand. With a distorting cry, the blue ghost swung it's lantern with a clink at Courtney's head. Before it made contact with her fear stricken face, Trent threw his shield out in front of Courtney with it clasped to his arm, making the lantern crash against it and bounces off for a spit second. Not wasting an opening, Trent swung his sword out with a forward lunge, cutting the blue cloaked creature in half with a loud tare and a shrill shriek from it as it turned to dust. "I think that's a Po," Trent told Courtney as he put his shield back up for protection.

Courtney and Beth went wide eyed with their mouths agape. "You… saved me,"

"Holy cannoli! Where did you learn to fight like that?" Beth asked with an amazed tone as she peaked out from under Trent's hat.

Trent looked at his hand and saw the triforce of courage was shining again. "I guess the hero of_ time is on my side_," He joked as he stroked the light with his other hand to his leather gloved hand.

"Awesome!" Beth squeaked as she put her small hand out for Trent to high five; which he did gently with a proud smile.

Courtney folded her hands in front of her heard as her face turned pink and her heart skipped beets. _"He was so… heroic,"_ She mused with an admiring look to Trent, but shook her head and blinked her eyes. "We shouldn't get side tracked; we still have… how many Poe Sisters are there?" Courtney asked with her usual leading tone while vigilantly looking around for another target.

"There _were_ four, but Trent just kicked one's butt," Beth praised with informing Courtney.

Suddenly, another Poe appeared behind Courtney, this one red with a tall straw hat that almost covered its piercing green eyes. "Watch—" Trent started as he readied his sword.

Before anything, Courtney side stepped to the left and gripped the two metal guards of the bow on the top and base so she held it flat before hooking it around the Poe's "neck" and yanked the wooden length between the two metal guards and arched her knee to its back. After a few moments of blood curtailing shrieks and frantic flailing of its arms, it finally froze and drooped its arms limply. Seeing its fight was over, Courtney released the bow from around its neck and looked to a horrified Trent and sickened Courtney. "Oh come on… I just knocked it out!" She barked at them before knocking an arrow to her bow and pointed at Trent.

"Duck…" She instructed before firing a spiraling arrow at Trent, who hit the ground and covered his head.

To Trent's surprise, a green tater sheet Poe was right behind him but was now flat on the ground as Courtney's arrow drilled into its face. Right as it hit the ground, its body let out a dust in the wind sound and slowly crumbled to nothing but dark powder. Trent turned his head to Courtney who had a smug look on her face as she lowered her bow and put a hand on her hip. Trent let out a whistle and stood back up. "Sharp aim," He complemented her with a charming smile.

Courtney smiled back at him with a light giggle without noticing the purple figure appearing behind her with a spinney frame tiara lining her shaded head. Courtney cocked her head to the side as Trent looked passed her with worry. Then she narrowed her eyes and smirked when she put it together. _"There you are…"_ she thought as she quickly stuffed her hand into her quiver on her back and clenched the prismatic charm.

"Din's Fire!" She yelled as the fire in the prism sparked and surged a branchy flame dome around itself and quickly pushed through the quiver without injuring it and surrounding Courtney without harming her either.

The Po's eyes grew wide and she attempted to scurry away but the fire caught the tail of her cloth like body, igniting her on fire as she howled in dismay and crumbled to the ground, slowly being engulfed in the flame. Din's Fire quickly dissipated into nothing and Courtney looked to Trent who was dumbfounded but clapping. "Me one, you three," He commented before walking back up to her.

"Wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be actually," Courtney bragged with a look to her nails nonchalantly.

"Uhg, this flirting is starting to get old," An annoyed voice interrupted them, raising your attention to back to the field.

They looked up and down the area, but found nothing; no one. "You're checking _all_ the wrong places," The voice mocked in a sing song tone.

"Show yourself!"

"Trent, watch your back!" Beth ordered fearfully.

Trent looked behind himself to see a pitch black sword lunge at him from out of his shadow. Using his sword to narrowly parry the blade inches away from his face, he jumped away from the sword, leaving his shadow behind. "What the—"

"Dark Link," Beth commented as she interrupted Trent's panicked cry.

Slowly, the shadow flicked its arms out of the ground as if it where water, splashing globs of darkness out as it pulled itself out of the ground with a black silhouette body. Once fully out of the ground, the shadow's body slowly morphed slightly so his cloths matched Trent's only with a gray tint and ash gray skin and red pupils. His face gradually shaped off into a visible face; a face that was not Trent's, but familiar all the same. As Courtney noted how his sword hand and shield hand where reversed from Trent, she blankly looked at his face. _"Somehow… that doesn't surprise me,"_ she mocked as she studied Dark Link's visage.

Once fully formed, Dark Link grinned with a wide evil smile, showing a severe gap in his front two teeth. "Link…" He started as he swung his sword menacingly through the air in Trent's direction. "We meet at last," Trent lowered his stance and prepped his shield and sword for a close quarters fight. "I was in that shadow of yours for too long!" Dark Link cursed, getting an eye roll from Courtney as she tried to hold in a laugh.

"_Tell me something we all don't know…"_

"Ganondorf sent me to deal with you so you don't—don't… okay he didn't tell exactly what I was stopping you from doing, but I'm stopping you!" He barked while starting to eye down Trent. "And when I beat you, everything that you had will be mine; your life, your stuff, _everything!_"

"_Wow… this sure is Cody if he wants Trent's life that much…"_ Courtney thought again while she prepped her bow to fire at him.

Dark Link looked to her but just ignored her stance to attack. "But enough talk…" He finally said as he quick stepped across the slab of stone in the middle of the area and right at Trent.

Trent steeled himself then kicked off the ground with a dynamic raise of his sword in the air. Dark Link immediately, twisted his body in a side step away from Trent's range of attack and pulled his sword back for a pierce for Trent's right side as he landed to the ground. Narrowly flicking his sword to the side, he locked his blade with Dark Link. The metal clang of their blades rang sharply through the sky while they each attempted to push the other one's balance off. As the sparks of their two locked blades sparked, Courtney took aim at Dark Link carefully. Trent peaked behind himself to see Courtney taking aim, immediately twirling his sword to dislocate Dark Link's hook to his blade. Once the lock was broke, Trent rolled to the side and Courtney launched an arrow at Dark Link, grazing his face sharply. He let out a sharp girlish scream and turned his attention to Courtney. "No fair! This is supposed to be one on one!" He ranted as he rubbed his cheek with his shield hand.

"Silly Dark Link, when it's you against Link or me it's one on none… care to guess which one you are?" She told him with a smug tone and raise of her eye brow.

Dark Link visibly grew furious and charged at Courtney. She just yawned and stayed in the same spot while Dark Link charged at her furiously. Suddenly, he felt a crushing pain to his side and his eyes shot wide in pain. He looked to his side and saw the head of a giant hammer digging into the left side of his hip, cracking bones under its weight. "C-craaaaap!" He shouted as the hammer swung him like a hammer throw on the end of it and finally sent him flying to a old cracked pillar at the other side of the area, sending him clear through with a loud crumble of the column.

Trent smirked and swung the hammer of his shoulder while admiring his hit. Courtney snickered and took a walk up to him. "Nice one Trent…" She wrapped a hand around his arm playfully. "Been working out?" She asked jokingly, brining a blush on Trent's face.

"Guess so, heh," He responded with a smile.

Their smiles where short lived as they heard the movement of ruble shifting from the area he knocked Dark Link. "I'm not done with you!" Dark Link shouted from as his body flowed out of the ground as if it where water.

"Bring it, Dork Link," Trent taunted with a wave of his sword at him.

For a second, Dark Link, Courtney, and even Beth looked at Trent with disappointment. "Really? Dork Link? We need to work on your banter, 'Link'," Courtney sighed as she stroked a finger on your temple in embarrassment.

Dark Link and Beth nodded in agreement; but then Dark Link quickly took back to his fighting pose. "Here I come!" He barked as he started his mad dash at Trent, blade at the ready for a run through.

Trent put his hand out to Courtney without a look to her. "Give me Din's Fire…" He ordered with Courtney immediately dropping it into his hand as she took it out of her quiver.

He examined it then held it out, readying to use it. Courtney and Beth quickly cleared away from Trent so they wouldn't get hit in the process. "Din's—" Trent started with Dark Link still dashing at him.

Suddenly, Dark Link's harsh and sharp eyes turned fearful and he halted with a skid of his feet. "W-w-where did you get that?" He asked as he put his sword and shield up in protection, as if he was afraid of it.

"This is Din's Fire, and I got this from—" Trent looked carefully at 'Cody' then his lips curled to a devilish smile. "-The Great Fairy…" He said with a chill to his voice while starting to walk closer to Dark Link, holding Din's fire out at him.

Immediately, Dark Link staggered back and fell down on his butt. "But… I don't think she wanted us to have it… I think she wanted _you_ to have it," Trent pointed out, extending Din's Fire to him slowly.

Dark Link pulled himself away fearfully as he crawled away backwards. "'Link'! What are you—" Courtney started, then noticed 'Cody's' fearful face at the mention of the Great Fairy. "-oh… yeah, she wanted you to have it Dark Link," Courtney insisted, urging him on to take it.

"N-no, it's yours, keep it," Dark Link denied as he backed himself all the way across the clearing and to one of the walls around them.

"No, you have it… oh and, hey; I hear she can see through this thing, so she'll be able to watch you 24/7 as long as you have it…" Trent lied as he slowly pushed Din's Fire closer to him, making Dark Link's eyes grow wide and sprawl his arms around in fear.

"Get that thing away from me!" He shouted before turning into a shadow and blurring up the wall like water and disappearing out of sight.

In the distance, they could hear his fearful shouts and panicking as he fled away. Trent looked to Courtney across the slab and they both started to laugh. "Priceless, Trent, simply priceless," Courtney congratulated as the two of them met on the triforce mark in the slab.

"I just got lucky is all," Trent replied honestly with a scratch of his head.

As they continued to laugh and be glad that they beat him, they didn't notice a blonde haired girl with her hair tied back in a large pony tail and wearing a small green leafy outfit with a short shorts looking out from behind the tree. "…Trent? Courtney?" The girl asked as she peaked out at them with her olive green eyes.

Courtney looked over to the girl and grew excited at the sight of her. "Bridgette!" She cheered before running up to her and hugging her, sending Bridgette into a shock.

"Whaa! What's going on here? Why are you two dressed up like a princess and a… hero?" She asked with a small giggle as she looked at Trent's attire.

Trent paid no attention to what she said as he was looking at her short clothing, barely covering her entire body. Courtney saw him doing this and inwardly fumed but still slapped Trent on the back of the head. _"Pig…_" she called him in her mind then looked to an embarrass faced Bridgette as she tried to lengthen her clothes out.

"I-I didn't dress like this on perpose. I mean, Geoff and I where hanging out when all of a sudden, a light just flew out around us and –bam- I was here in these clothes inside that freaky building," Bridgette protested as she pointed to the entrance to the Forest Temple.

Courtney put her hand on her shoulder and looked at her with a caring smile. "Calm down, it'll all make sense soon, we promise," She assured her surfer friend.

Bridgette looked up at Courtney and nodded her head. "Thanks… but I have to admit…" She looked herself over and did a few poses. "This is actually pretty nice," Courtney giggled while Trent looked away so he wouldn't look at Bridgette's clothes.

When he turned around, he saw the triforce on the stone slab starting to glow. "Bridgette…?" Trent called to her without looking back at her.

"Yeah, Trent?"

"Close your eyes," He instructed her as the light exploded out and engulfed the area they were all in.

* * *

Moments later, the light cleared and they appeared within the Spirit Realm; only Bridgette was now standing on the platform adjacent to the now shimmering Green Emblem on the main platform. Saria was standing on the glowing mark with an exuberant smile across her face. "Wow! You got her! And in record time too. It took Link like, almost three days to find his way. But good thing you got that little treasure there to help you," Saria laughed as she pointed to Beth.

"EEE, Saria thinks I'm a treasure!" Beth explained as she flew from out of Trent's hat.

Saria giggled for a second, but then disappeared and reappeared floating next to Bridgette, startling her and making her stumble back a little. "Nice to finally meet you, I'm Saria! And you must be Bridgette. Can I call you Bridge?" She introduced herself as she cupped Bridgette's hand and shook it.

"Uh, yeah, that'll be fine," Bridgette replied with a nervous smile to Saria. "Guys? Can you start explaining to me what's going on now?" Bridgette asked with a small panic in her voice.

"Well… we're in a parallel dimension because our home world is leaking into theirs, and if we don't gather the Sages –the people who have to repair the rift between our worlds right now- then our world will join with theirs and frankly that just doesn't sound good," Courtney explained, gaining a shocked look from Bridgette.

"So… I'm one of these sages?"

"Hate to say it… but yeah. But don't worry, we'll do this as quick as we can and we'll get you and DJ over there, home and out of this crazy world," Courtney assured her as she pointed with her thumb at DJ who had started to smile at the new arrival.

"Thank goodness you guys are alright. And you got Bridgette here, so that's even better," DJ thanked as he looked down at Trent and Courtney.

"Well… as long as it isn't forever…" Bridgette noted while settling down into a sit on the edge of her pedestal, dangling her legs off into the darkness.

Courtney nodded to Bridgette, and then snapped her fingers as she remembered something. "Saria, I forgot to tell you we saw Mido," At Courtney's words, Saria immediately disappeared from Bridgette and reappeared in front of Courtney.

"Really? What did he say?" She asked excitedly at this new turn of events.

"He said he misses you and well… he told us a lot of stories about you," She told Saria, who smiled joyfully and clasped her hands in front face as she tilted it playfully.

"He did? Aww, I miss him too. You know it's funny…" Saria disappeared again and reappeared on her green marker on the ground. "You never know what you had until it's too far gone to get it…" Her face turned dark and saddened for a brief second then sprang back to her usual radiant life. "Oh well, the world keeps turning. But tell Mido I'll always be there for him like he was, and still is, there for me," Saria purposed to them before fading away.

Suddenly, the red hexagon emblem started to glow warmly and a large, rock like monster appeared with round coal eyes looking at Trent. "You've done a fine job freeing those two… but the free rides end here!" He bellowed hoarsely as he folded his muscular arms in front of his hard but round stomach.

"The enemy is now fully aware of what is happening, and they'll be ready to place obstacles and whatever it takes to make sure you fail," He explained sternly.

Trent nodded with a determined look. Courtney, on the other hand, looked at the humanoid before them in disgust. "Who are you and for the love of whatever deity you people here believe in, put some pants on!" She demanded as she shielded her eyes with her hand.

"I am Darunia, but _you_ Trent, may call me Big Brother… and I am wearing underpants, see?" He pointed out as he lifted up his belly fat and showed a small cloth like sumo sash covering him like underpants.

Courtney gagged and turned away, disgusted by the sight. "We'll do our best, Big Brother. But where's the next place we have to go?" Trent asked, unfazed by Darunia's flash.

"You'll find the next person deep in Death Mountain, at the Fire Temple," He told them before disappearing like the other sages.

"Death Mountain… sounds welcoming," Courtney sighed with a sarcastic tone.

Bridgette, who had been silent up until this point, smiled with a stiffened giggle. "Aww come on Court, you should be nicer and more ambitious around your new boyfriend," Bridgette taunted her friend with a friendly but jostling tone.

Courtney's eyes shot wide and she gasped as she looked at Bridgette. Beth smirked at Courtney's bewildered look with the same enjoyment Bridgette was getting out of it. "They're dating now? Wow. I mean, they were getting along great when they came and got me," DJ added, joining in the jostling of Courtney.

"Really? Then you would've loved to see how flirting they were when they came to get me," Bridgette said to DJ.

The two of them started laughing as Courtney tried to protest, but couldn't summon out the words. Trent looked up at the two of them and waved a hand at them. "Now come on guys, we're just—" Suddenly, the summoning light swallowed up around the main platform, taking Beth, Courtney, and Trent away from the sacred realm again.

"…Hey Deej?"

"Yeah, Bridge?"

"What do you think of this new outfit?" She gestured to her body with a friendly smile at him.

"Hmm… It's nice, but I think Geoff will like it more," He replied with a joking voice.

Bridgette blushed and looked back at the main platform. "Then I hope I get to keep it… its actuly growing on me,"

"By the way Bridgette… what happened when you got to this world?" DJ asked her with some worry about her experience.

"It was horrible," she started as she pulled her legs up from hanging on the edge and to her chest. "I was in this dark room filled with paintings at first, but I found the door out and entered this crooked hallway," She continued, getting sympathetic looks from DJ as she continued. "At the end of that… these skeleton monsters with HUGE clubs came at me in this darkly lit room,"

"Oh man, what did you do?" DJ asked with fear in his voice like it was a scary story at a campfire Bridgette was telling him.

"…Nothing actually. I was too scared to move," She told DJ, who gave her a confused look.

"But, then how are you here?" Bridgette smiled warmly and put her legs back off the ledge.

"Some girl saved me by pushing the monsters away. She said 'go, go! If you don't hurry, the bats'll getcha'. I thanked her and made a run for the exit… I hope she's alright," After those words, the two went into silence and waited for the arrival of their "Hero's".

* * *

On the outskirts of the Lost Woods, a panting and shivering Dark Link rested on all fours with his palms to the crisp grass. "Lord Ganon's not gonna' like this… I ran from a fight because of… I don't even know why I was afraid," He wined as he pushed his forehead to the field before him, cowering at the very idea of what Ganondorf would do to him.

The wind blew softly, brushing against the lush green grass around him. His cowering and panic was cut short as he heard grass rustling under foot in front of him. "Wow, great job back there, _Dark Link_. I've seen Dekus more threatening then you…" A harsh mocking girl's voice told him. He picked his head up off the field, but didn't see a girl; but him with a paler tint to its body and face. "What's wrong? Look like you've seen a ghost?" The other Dark Link asked, shooting him a smug look and hand to his hips.

Dark Link shook his head and kicked up to his feet, immediately followed by putting his blade to the other Dark Link's neck. "W-who are you?" He asked, trying to appear tough, but only got a mocking smile from the other Dark Link again.

"When you ask a question, you should be more in control, not sound like a scared little kid… oh wait, you are a scared little kid," The other link taunted him, making him grit his teeth.

"I'm not scared!" He retorted fiercely, his hand shaking while holding the hilt.

The other Link looked up into Dark Link's eyes; slowly turning 'his' eyes yellow with red irises. "You should be…" 'He' corrected Dark Link with a cool but dark tone. For just a moment, the peaceful Hyrule Field was filled with the girly scream of a frightened boy.

* * *

**Pretty good huh? Any man am i funny "Time is on my side", brilliant.**

**QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Who will be guarding the Fire Sage?**


	8. Curse of Wood: Good never Sleeps

****

Oh man, this chapter is horrible... if i could, i'd skip it, i would rather not even look at this... but it's still an importent part... So try to enjoy and i promise next time, things get EXTREME!

* * *

With the familiar crunch of the grass under their feet, Trent and Courtney looked about them, seeing the arrived in the exact same spot they always did. The only difference was that now, the sun had set and the moon was out in a luminescent crescent shape. They all took in the night light and enjoyed the peace of the night for a second. "Strange enough, I'm getting used to that light," Courtney admitted with a look to Trent.

He nodded with a smile at her, and then his face turned stern. He lifted his hat up off his head and grabbed with gently and put her to eye level with him. "Beth, I need you to do us a favor," Beth tilted her head with confusion at his sudden action, but paid attention to what he was asking. "I need you to go back to Mido and tell him what Saria told us, just to put his mind at ease, alright?" Trent asked, getting an 'aww' from both Courtney and Beth.

"You got it Trent. I may as well pick Epona up on the way too," She responded as she fluttered out of Trent's hand and buzzed off towards the Lost Woods.

"That's very nice of you Trent," Courtney pointed out with a smile at her friend.

Trent smiled back at her warmly while he put his hat back on. "He seemed to really care about that Saria, so I'd hate myself if I didn't pass on her message," He explained with a noble tone.

For a few moments, the two of them made no sound but just looked to each other. "…A-anyway. What should we do now since we don't know the way to Death Mountain?" Courtney asked, trying to hurry back to their quest. Trent froze and his kind smile turned ridged and nervous. Courtney noticed this and narrowed her eyes. "You didn't plan pass the part where Beth left… did you?" Courtney took Trent's silence and nervous laugh as a yes. She palmed a hand to her forehead and groaned. "So what do you plan on us doing now?" She asked harshly with one eye looking to Trent and one shut in annoyance.

"Don't worry, I know the way there," Trent assured her with a proud smirk. Courtney put her hand down from her forehead and gave Trent a half smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah… it's right there," He informed her as he pointed towards the north-east, where I giant volcano with an ominous red aura flowing around the head of it.

Courtney looked up at it and shrugged. "Huh, would you look at that…"

"How did we miss that?" Trent added before starting his walk in its direction.

He was followed by Courtney as they made their way across the field. A few steps in on their venture, Trent stopped in mid-step with a curtailing groan. Dropping to his knee, he put his palms on the sides of his head while he groaned in pain. Courtney gasped and quickly ran over to him, ignoring her dress getting scuffed up. "Trent! What's wrong?" She asked with horror in her voice.

Trent made no answer except howling in pain and falling to his side. "Oh no…" She muttered before picking up Trent and putting his head on her shoulder and his arm on her other shoulder.

She quickly analyzed the way back to Castle Town. Mustering her strength of, she dragged Trent's groaning and heavy breathing body on her back to Castle Town in the north. "Don't worry Trent. You're not dying on my watch. I still need you… for the quest," She muttered to herself, then looked around the area of the field. "Wait? Why am I trying to tell myself that?" She asked herself as she slowly made her way across the field, desperately trying to support Trent's body on her back.

Dismissing it all, she dragged herself towards Castle Town, looking for any sort of shelter that she could use to help Trent. Far behind them near where they started, a small shadow flowed out of the ground and looked out to them with a visibly yellow and red eye while the rest of their body was transparent. "...I can't just leave her like that…" the shadow growled before diving back into the ground and charged after the two of them silently.

Courtney continued to pull Trent along as he panted in pain and his hands clenched tightly into fists from whatever pain he was having. "Excuse me!" Courtney looked ahead and saw a guard of Hyrule Castle standing not far ahead of her. "Maybe I can help you with that luggage?" He joked but ran up behind her and lifted Trent's legs up off the ground so he wasn't being dragged anymore.

Courtney let out a sigh of relief and took a look back at the guard with a caring smile but still started to walk to the town. "Thank you… and aren't you the same guard that helped us get that rock out of the way near the castle?" The guard chuckled as he moved the legs he was holding under his armpits for a better hold.

"Yeah. Sorry if I've been following you two, but I didn't feel right not giving you two protection," He explained as he looked down at Trent's limp body.

Together, the two of them made it quickly to Castle Town and across the bridge. "You know we're lucky that no monsters attacked us," The guard pointed out as they carried Trent through the plaza of Castle Town.

The streets where dead silent, no life running through the streets other then the small flame lit lights that shone through the windows of houses and closing businesses for the night. "Why do you say that?" Courtney asked as she switched her body position so she was facing the guard and was putting Trent's head to her chest and holding him by his arm pits.

"I mean, the field may be attractive at night, but it's filled with monsters and creatures that only stalk the night," The guard replied, flaring his teeth in a fake fearful manner.

Courtney pondered for a minute about that statement, but put it aside as they made it to a small building with a hanging sign that said "inn". "This should do," The guard noted as he took the first steps into the inn, bringing Trent's legs in first and Courtney bringing the rest of him in after him.

Once they got in, they carelessly dropped the pained boy on a red couch in the corner, taking in sighs of relief. "That guy is heavier then he looks…" The guard admitted with a stretch of his arms up and a look to Courtney.

"I have to admit, he is heavy," Courtney replied with a snicker.

The guard turned to Courtney and put a hand on her shoulder. "You should rest; I'll go find help… I think I know what's bothering him, and I know just the guy that can help," The guard explained to Courtney.

With a look at Trent and a look outside, Courtney nodded solemnly. "Alright… but can you pay for us to—"

"There's no need to pay," The guard assured her as he made his way to the exit of the small wood floor lobby. "You're the princess," He reminded her before opening the door and exited to the dark streets of the city. Feeling relieved, Courtney settled down next to Trent on the lobby couch; and moments later, fell asleep using his arm as pillow and his chest as a source of warmth.

* * *

The guard looked through the glass window built into the front of the inn and smirked devilishly. "She's making herself all comfy warming up to him…" The guard noted as his voice lost its masculine tone for a younger and feminine tone. "Guess that boy's taken," the guard let out with a fake sigh before hopping down to the cobblestone street, making his way to the plaza.

When he got back to the plaza, he scanned around the barely lit opening for a certain building. Finally, he spotted a small house just beside the path to Hyrule castle. "Let's just hope that nerd is still awake," 'he' mumbled before walking over to the building.

Peaking through the dark window, he saw nothing but darkness. He balled his fist up and knocked the door a few times. "You awake in there?" hearing no response, the guard shrugged and lifted his leg up into the air. "Wake up call," with a loud thwack, the guard's foot collided with the wooden frame of the door, knocking it down with a shatter of wood into the air. The lights of the building sparked on and a red haired man shot up from under the counter at the end of the room with frightened but sleepy eyes. "Oh good, your awake."

* * *

They crack of the breaking dawn over the lush Hylian Field hills brought new life all around those that resided in this world. The shopping districts of Castle Town sprang back to life and the people conversed and traveled throughout the streets and shop ways. The shimmering morning glow flowed softly through the window frames of all the houses and other such buildings throughout the town. The sleeping princess inside the in felt the soft rays of light warm her tanned face and she scrunched her freckled forehead in displeasure. _"It's too early for morning,_" she hissed to herself but still started to stretch herself for the start of the day.

Her morning glazed eyes skimmed around the room as she continued to lay her head down on the couch she fell asleep on. The small lobby of the inn was empty of all people except her and… "Oh right, Trent," she mumbled to herself, remembering she had slept snuggly into him last night, invoking a blush on her face in the process.

She extended her hand behind her and put her hand on Trent's shoulder. "Hey Trent… you feeling any—" For a moment, she paused as she felt Trent's shoulder.

What she felt was not a teen boys arm, strong, or even clothed. What she felt was a small, coarse, bark like twig that had a somewhat warm feel to it. Her head slowly turned back in fear of what she was feeling. "Trent?" She asked, but immediately leapt off the couch and landed on the floor to the side with a sharp and loud scream at what she saw behind her.

* * *

Outside of the inn, a lanky man with large pack covered on all sides with masks waited with his hands around the handles of the bag. The guard that helped Courtney earlier stood leaning next to the entrance with one foot up on the wall behind him as well. Suddenly, they heard a fearful scream and the guard looked to the man in front of him. "She's awake… let's go," The guard informed him flatly with an open of the door for him.

* * *

As a loud scream shocked through Trent's head, he shot his eyes open and stood up. When he looked to see what the scream was, he saw Courtney on the ground looking up at him scared. "Courtney? What are you doing on the ground?" He asked with a confused voice.

"T-Trent, l-l-look at yourself," She stuttered as she pointed to his body.

Trent tilted his head then took out his sword to use the reflection to look at himself. Right as he unsheathed his sword, he toppled over off the couch at the sudden hefty weight of it. As his head hit the ground, he didn't hear a thud of his body, but an empty knock of wood on wood. "What the?" He pushed himself up off the ground and saw his arms tube like lengths of wood.

He quickly sprang up and checked his whole body, shocked to see not only he was partly naked, but his body had shrunk to a third its usual size and it was completely made of wood. "I don't—what the—how the—" Trent muttered out loud in a ramble as he checked his body up and down, looking to Courtney with his now glowing ember eyes.

Just then, the inn door creaked open and the guard from before strode in with a man in purple clothes and a large pack with masks cladding it on his back following close behind. "Princess, Link, I've brought the help you need," The guard assured them, smirking a little at Trent's fearful movements.

The other man leaned towards Trent and knelt down in front of him. "…Yep, he's been cursed alright," He let out with a bored and tired sigh.

Courtney and Trent's faces turned shocked and looked to the man. "Cursed? Who would have cursed—Skull Kid…" Courtney figured out, remember the last time they saw him.

The man nodded and started digging through the back pack he was wearing. "That darn kid gets in all kinds of trouble… I mean, gosh! When does it end?" He protested as he took out a crinkled piece of paper out.

"By the way, I'm the Happy Mask Salesman, or HMS for short… and this here is a song that will turn your curse into a mask that you can where anytime you want to turn back into this form," He explained to Trent, who graciously took the piece of paper and studied the notes.

"I don't think I'll be wearing it anytime soon," Trent nodded after studying it and took his ocarina out from his back pocket and slowly put it to the giant hole in his face that was his mouth.

As the ocarina got close, it disappeared and large wooden pipes sprang around him and a wind way that was connected to the array of pipes winded up to his mouth. "…That doesn't make any sense!" Courtney snapped, recovering from shock and went right back to her usual self.

"You shouldn't be like that princess… Nothing makes sense until it happens in front of your own eyes," HMS explained with a bow towards his princess.

Trent slowly started playing the special song, taking it slowly so it sounded choppy, but less horrific. After playing, his body sprang with a sparkling light that shimmered throughout the room, followed by a deku 'face' dropping with a wooden roll to the floor. Trent slowly removed his gloved palms from his face and looked around. Seeing he was back to his normal height, and his skin returned, he smiled and chuckled a little. "Link!" When he looked to the side he saw Courtney throw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him warmly with her head to his chest. "I'm so glad you're alright," she admitted as she held her warmly.

Trent flinched for a moment, but put a comforting hand on Courtney's back. The guard smirked at the two of them, and then looked to the Happy Mask Salesman, who had picked up the mask and was examining it. "Give that back to Link," The guard snapped in a hush.

"Excuse me. But you wake me up in the middle of the night and drag me here and I get nothing out of—"

His rant was cut short as he felt the guard's spear being pressed to his hip. "Okay, it's theirs," He whimpered as he tossed it to Trent, who had broken from Courtney's embrace with her face flaring red.

"Cool, thanks. But do you have any more masks like this that could help us?" Trent asked as he examined the mask.

"No…" He replied, but felt the stick of the spear head to his hip again.

"Give um' the masks," the guard ordered with a monotone voice.

HMS immediately tossed out two masks at Trent. "The brown one will turn you super strong and the teal one will give you the ability to breathe under water," He explained as he pointed between the two of them in his hands.

With no more words, the Happy Mask Salesman started to exit the inn, but turned around to them one last time. "Oh… if you see Skull Kid… get my mask back and bring it back to me. The same goes for those three masks when you're done with them," He insisted before disappearing outside, seemingly disappearing into thin air.

"Well, that being that, we better get you to Death Mountain," The guard let out as he opened the door for the two of them.

Trent wasted no time walking to the door, while Courtney on the other hand narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Trent, stay where you are," She ordered, stopping Trent midway out the door.

"How do you know we're going to Death Mountain?" She asked the guard with a sharp tone.

"_Crap in a can…"_ The guard cursed before looking to Courtney with a shaky smile. "You told—"

"I said nothing about what we were doing. So why do you know?" Courtney snapped, Trent giving the guard a confused and concerned look.

The guard looked between them before admitting defeat with a sigh. "Looks like the jig is up…" he mumbled, his voice slowly turning to a girl's voice.

Before Trent or Courtney could say anything, the three of them slowly started to break apart into black rectangles and flew out of the room on pieces. After all of them where fully turned into dark particles, the collective darkness darted out of the city and through the morning sky in a zooming path back to where the first appeared in the Hyrule Field. Once over head, the shards of darkness shot back to the ground and reformed Courtney and Link little by little in the same positions they were in before teleported. "What the hell was that!" Courtney spat as her body shuttered at the feeling of that whole trip.

"I'd rather travel by that light the sages keep using over that," Trent admitted as he checked his body to see if any of him was missing.

"Well _sorry_ that my traveling methods aren't as _safe_ or _clean_ as the sages," A girl's voice replied to their remarks with a sarcastic tone.

Trent and Courtney turned around to see who said that and where surprised to see Courtney's shadow twitching and slowly wisping into a impish looking girl with a stone like mask that covered one of her eyes and most of her 'hair' and teal line-ish designs across her black and white body. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," She pointed out as her 'hair' waved from under her helmet and she drifted closer to Courtney.

Courtney's eyes went wide as her hands started slightly trembling while Trent looked away as if displeased at the sight of the imp. "I'm Midna," The imp introduced herself as she extended her tiny black hand to Courtney.

She looked at the girl's hand and gritted her teeth as she took her hand and shook it weakly. "I'm Zelda—"

"Yeah I know who you two are, but we can talk about all that on our way to Death Mountain," Midna interrupted before drifting off ahead of them, her black and teal 'hair' drifting behind her.

Courtney looked to Trent with sympathy. _"I had a feeling this would have happened sooner or later…"_ Courtney told herself with a shake of her head and a guiding hand to Trent's stiff shoulder.

Midna looked over her shoulder and rolled her eye. "We'll have time for your romance later. We still need to talk about junk," Midna sighed with a narrowing of her eyes but still keeping a playful smirk.

Courtney followed after her while Trent dragged his feet in following after Courtney. _"Of all the girls… why Gwen?"_ he inwardly groaned as the three of them began their trek across the lush Hylian field.

* * *

Leaving the Lost Woods, an auburn horse with a glittering blue fairy atop its nose trotted out. The fairy looked to all her sides then gave a look to the horse's coal eyes. "I guess they'll meet up with us at Death Mountain… you know it's not really that hard to miss so I'm sure they'll find their way there in no time," Beth explained to Epona, who just nayed and began to trot off towards Death Mountain.

"But it still would've been nice if they met with us at the entrance," Beth pouted with a fold of her arms. Epona paid her no mind, not that she could, and started to gather speed to catch up with her master.

"Yeah, well you know what? Forget you! Yeah, this world is filled with more hoties, I don't need you!" A tall ponytailed man yelled to a girl walking off in a different direction.

* * *

Byrne failed yet again to get a girl for the umpteenth time since he got to Kakarico Village. His sharp sneaky eyes scanned the scenery of the small village, scoping out for a new girl. "Tsk… who needs these girls… they're all too simple and lame. I need a girl with more fire, more bite more—" His eyes slowly clicked to the entrance of the city; and at the field in the distance.

With a curies turn of his head, he shot his gauntlet claw hand up at the towering watch tower nearby and pulled himself up with haste. With a leaning look forward, he eyed off the distance of the Hylian Field, seeing distant shades of people heading towards the town. "—looks like my wish'll be granted…" He told himself with a devious hiss and great leap from the tower to the rocky mountain ledge in the distance.

* * *

**Like i said, horrible... but still REVIEW and LEAVE a COMMENT regardless...**

**Will Beth make it before a fight breaks out?**

**Will Trent live with Midna looking like Gwen?**

**And where the heck is Skull Kid?**


	9. Sage of Fire: Some people never change

**Would you look at this? The next chapter, hooray! But sadly, this good news comes with bad news… after this chapter I will be holding off on updating this story for a good while as I have another story to do. But rest assured, I will pick up sooner or later, not like it'll be a few months like some people, so stay hopeful. And I also leave you with a great chapter, so enjoy and remember to COMMENT and REVIEW.**

* * *

The field of Hyrule was at peace as the dancing morning gust blew over. Not a monster in sight or any evil looming ahead. But Trent could not enjoy this brief moment of serine peace like Midna and Courtney where doing after they conversed on the whole situation. "So, you were in my shadow the whole time?" Courtney asked with a snicker at the floating imp lying in the air beside her.

"Hey, with that dress on, that shadow was pretty roomy," Midna joked with a smile and Courtney.

Courtney giggled and smiled at her new found friend while Trent groaned and attempted to stomp ahead of them to escape their blathering. _"It's bad enough its Gwen... but she actually gets along with Courtney!"_ he screamed in his mind in exasperation.

"But all seriousness, when you two appeared in this world, I knew there was something up with the worlds… and it won't be long until my world starts flowing into another world if this keeps up," Midna explained with a half serious look between the two of them.

"Right… it's still great for you to be helping us though," Courtney insisted as she tried to evade any touchy subjects about the mission.

Midna drifted closer to Courtney and put her elbow on Courtney's shoulder and sighed. "I had better things to do… but I guess saving the world looks good on a track record," Midna joked, looking to Courtney with a side glance of her one viewable eye.

Courtney pushed her away playfully and the two shared another friendly laugh. _"It's weird… she acts like Gwen but I'm actually getting along with her… Maybe that's because I never gave Gwen much of a chance to—BLAH –what am I thinking?" _Courtney fought in her mind as she continued to look at Midna.

Midna noticed her conflicting look within her eyes, and decided to go about into a new topic. "So tell me about your world? Is it anything like this one? Or is it even more boring?" Courtney snapped out of her brooding thought path and fixed more onto Midna.

"Oh, well. I'll say that it's a lot less exciting then this place… there's no killer monsters or magic wielding maniacs in it though," Courtney explained, trying to keep it somewhat light noted.

"Wow that does sound boring. But what about the people in the world? What about your friends?" Both Courtney and Trent stiffened in their tracks for a second, but picked back up after recovering from the question.

"There were a few nice people in our world… but we're both just recovering from a break up," Courtney explained solemnly with a look at Trent's slumped back.

"_Speak for yourself, she dumped me months before you got dumped,"_ Trent protested, but kept it quietly in his own mind.

"Break up, huh? Well have you seen those two in this world? You know with the whole _world leaking_ thing," Midna questioned as she straitened herself up in the air.

Courtney bit her lip before answering her question, considering ever outcome that could come from telling the truth or a lie. Before she could speak up, Trent lifted his head up from his walk ahead of them. "Not yet… but they're bond to show up sooner or later, right?" Trent lied, but smiled cheerfully at the two of them.

Courtney sighed in relief and nodded to Trent while Midna looked over at Trent with an amused smile. "Yeah, I just hope none of them turn out to be a villain," Midna joked with a stretch of her arm in the air from lack of movement.

The trio of them enjoyed a good laugh and Trent joined in the conversation between Courtney and Midna; all three of them relaxing on their way for the waiting enemy.

* * *

A length of winding dirt and rock is the only thing that makes traveling from the guard post to the Goron City possible other then scaling the ridged and unsteady sides of the mountain. Rarely did many monsters reside or cross on the path in fear of the stone bodied juggernauts known as Gorons. Relatively peaceful at heart, they grew protective of their land after the ensuing assaults by Ganon in the past. And again, their peaceful life style and seclusion was shattered when a trespasser paid a visit to their home in the base of the mountain. Goron beaten bodies lay sprawled across the multiple levels and ledges throughout the inner sanctum of the Goron City. The painted walls of the curving walls of the inner city where crushed in by Gorons wedged through newly made holes by them. Standing atop a tipped over vase with Goron faces carved into it, Byrne twitched his cackling lips as he crotched proudly over the Gorons' fallen city. "This was a nice warm up. But man!" He leapt down to where a few groaning and pained Gorons struggled to get on all fours.

"You guys put up way less of a fight then what Ganon's tropes said you where capable of," He mocked them as he searched through the bottom floor of the Gorons' home, eyeing every inch of it. "But you did seem to want to stop me from getting to something… despite how crappy you fought," He came to a large statue that had a hot air wafting out from behind it. His unibrow perked up and he cackled to himself. "What do we have here-"

"Byrne! Byrne!" Byrne stopped midway of grabbing the statue when he heard a cracking voice call out to him from the top of the city tiers.

He threw his head back to see a distant straw bodied boy flapping his arms around far above him on the top floor. "Skull Kid? What're doing here? Weren't you supposed to report to Onox?" Byrne asked with a not caring but friendly yell to the masked boy.

Skull Kid immediately threw himself down to ground level where Byrne was with a flail of his arms and a flip. His face crashed into the cracked stone flooring of the ground before Byrne. Byrne snickered to himself but pulled Skull Kid up off the ground with a yank of his arm and hung him in front of him. "I was ordered to tell you that you have to stop Link on his way here!" Skull Kid spat out as he used his un-held hand to brush himself off.

"Really?" Byrne asked, asking as if it were a joke.

With a move of his arm holding Skull Kid, he showed him all defeated Gorons that filled the city. "Please, Kid. I knew he was coming an hour ago, I'm just warming up," Skull Kid bobbed his head in understanding and Byrne let him down on the ground to his feet.

Skull Kid turned on his heel and started to strut off in the direction of one of the many corridors within the city so he could leave. Byrne put his metallic claw to his chin through his scarf and tapped it for a moment. "Wait… I may need your help Skull Kid," He called to the straw bodied boy. Skull Kid twisted his head around with interest.

* * *

"A green Mohawk? That's disgusting!" Midna laughed with Trent and Courtney following her up a concrete staircase within Kakarico Village.

The citizens of the city paid them no mind, just going about their business as they passed by. "I know!" Courtney shot back with a pleased smile while Trent smiled at the two of them.

To him, things seemed right with the two of them talking and laughing like sisters. _"She's not as productive as Beth. But Courtney seems to really like Midna,"_ Trent reasoned to himself while he followed Midna with Courtney to a small stone wall with a black barred gate in the middle of it.

Midna looked ahead as she came to a halt in the air. "Here we are… Death Mountain. Home of the Gorons, a lot of rocks, deadly exploding plants, and the sage of fire," Midna introduced, gesturing to the path beyond the gate.

"That's good we're here, but how do we get pass the gate?" Courtney asked, eying the helmeted guard with a spear standing in the way.

Midna gave her a narrowed look of her viewable eye and shook her head. "We have royal immunity. That's like a free pass to go anywhere and do whatever we want. Don't be afraid to just flaunt that some times," Midna urged her as she flew behind Courtney and phased into Courtney's shadow.

Courtney nodded to Trent and walked up to the gate. She gave the guard a commanding look and put a hand on her hip. "I have important princess duties to do in the Goron City with my private guard here," Courtney informed the guard firmly.

The guard saluted her and pulled a crank that pulled the door open slowly click after click. Courtney curtsied to the guard and started on her path through the mountain with Trent close behind. The path up the mountain side was soft and smooth the entire way; and strangely silent. As they neared a turn in the path that continued upward the face of the path, Midna flew out of Courtney's shadow with uncertainty across her face. "Something's not right here…" She stated before looking about the small landing they were standing on.

"What do you mean? I thought it was peaceful here?" Trent asked while he took his sword and shield out into his respective hand.

"It is, but this place is supposed to be filled to the brim with Gorons… but none are even in sight," Midna pointed out before drifting her body up the sloped pathway.

Trent looked to Courtney and gestured her to follow him, should there be any danger. The slope they climbed up was a lot less smooth and soft then the one below them was. This path was riddled with protruding rubble and dented landscape across the entire stretch of the path. Soon after ascending up the slope, they came to a fork in the road, one lead up a steep incline that went to the head of the volcano, the other leading to a cave with a dark entrance within it. They turned to Midna as she looked between the two of them. "The cave leads to the Goron City, the path leads to the Fire Temple," She explained as she pointed to each one respectively.

"That makes our choice simple," Courtney insisted as she started over to the road to the Fire Temple.

Suddenly, she was caught off guard by a rattling noise coming from the cave. The three of them turned their attention to the cave as the rattling grew louder and closer. Their nerves eased up as they saw the familiar masked face of the straw boy come into view. "Oh, it's just you…" Trent laughed before slowly putting his sword back into its sheath.

Skull Kid flared his fists into the air and ran closer to them and blocked the path off to the Fire Temple. "Hey! What do you mean 'just you'? I'm a threat!" Skull Kid fumed as his limbs went into a flurry of frustration.

Courtney simply kneeled down in front of him and gave him a gentle pat on his head through his hat. "Sure you are. Now if you'll excuse us," She humored him before leading Midna and Trent towards the Temple.

Skull Kid quickly jumped into the air and landed in front of them again. "Oh no you don't! You're not getting passed me—" Suddenly a loud cranking sound cracked through the air as a metal claw clamped onto the back of Skull Kid's head.

Skull Kid let out a sharp yelp as the claw flicked upward with it still holding him and threw him off the side of the cliff, his scream of terror fading away as he plummeted towards the city in the distance. Everyone's eyes grew wide at the sudden action and turned their attention to the claw that had started to retract upward to a ledge above them on the mountain face. "What the heck was that?"

"Byrne…" Midna whispered in answering reply to Trent's question.

Suddenly, the tall, buff man leapt from down to them once his claw finally retracted to his arm. He shot them a cold and devilish stair and he started to cackle loudly at the sight of them. "Skull Kid actually proved for a good introduction for me…" He laughed with a flick of his normal hand to the three of them.

Courtney stood with a shuttering stun and she took in the boy's appearance and voice. Trent on the other hand, grasped his sword from his sheath and smiled to himself. _"Sometimes, the universe just gives you one…"_ He thought to himself, thinking over that he had to fight this man.

Midna looked back at the two of them and laughed weakly in nervousness. "Heh, kinda jinxed that one didn't I?" She joked, but saw this was no time for it.

Byrne took a few steps forward, forcing Courtney to stagger back again in fear. "In case that imp there didn't speak loud enough for you to hear it, my name is Byrne," He introduced himself, putting his gauntlet hand in front of his face. "B," his index finger sharply rose. "Y," the middle finger of his claw shot up. "R," his ring finger rose up with the other two. "N," his small pinkie finger sharply flicked up. "E," his thumb slightly came up, but pointed at the three of them menacingly. "Byrne," He repeated as he slid the metal blades of his fingers against each other with a sharp metallic screech every time.

"Was that really necessary?" Trent asked with a lowering of his sword for battle.

"Don't know, was it necessary for you to be such punk when you got sick?" Byrne snapped back smugly as he stretched his arm in prep for battle.

"Big talk coming from a one armed jerk,"

"Big talk coming from one arm jerk off," Byrne retorted with a laugh.

Trent gritted his teeth and charged at Byrne with his sword arced for attack. With a twirling leap, Trent smashed his blade towards Byrne's head, but was stopped by Byrne putting his hand up calmly. He locked his fingers around the sword like a vice and looked to Trent. "If that's all you got, this'll be easier than I thought," He mocked before tossing Trent upward.

Byrne quickly fired his hand up to the top of the mountain and hooked it to the ledge on the top, tightening the chain between him and the claw so he could fly up the face of the mountain side. As he glided up the face, he slammed his fist human fist into Trent's gut and dragged him up the wall with him, burning his fist into his gut with constant punches on the way up. Trent's eyes went wide and he coughed dryly every time Byrne nailed him in the gut, pushing him higher and higher up the cliff. Courtney put a hand over her mouth in shock as she saw the two of them disappear from sight. "Trent!" Courtney called out to him absentmindedly, but the two of them where too far gone to hear.

Midna gently put her palm on Courtney's shoulder and looked to her face from the side. "He'll be fine. But we should wait here in case they come back," Midna assured Courtney. She made no response except desperately looking up the height of the mountain.

* * *

Reaching above the top of the mountain, Byrne smashed his fist into Trent's side, slamming him into the top of the ground below them. Trent rived in pain as his arm dulled the landing to the ground and Byrne landed feet away from him, retracting his hand back to his arm. "Done already?" Byrne asked coldly.

Taking a few steps closer to him, Byrne drilled his boot into Trent's arched stomach, kicking him across the plateau of land they stood on. _"This isn't going well…" _Trent admitted to himself, digging his sword into the ground near him to stagger up for a leveraged stand.

Byrne clapped his hands jostling while walking closer to Trent. "Amazing! You got to your feet," Byrne put his man hand on Trent's trembling shoulder and looked around the empty area around them. "Someone give the kid a prize," He mocked before drilling his blade fist into Trent's gut, slicing slightly into his skin and ripping his green tunic.

Once more, Trent dropped to his knee with a pained whimper. "Tell me…" Byrne kneeled down to the pain filled Trent who was lying on the ground, a streak of red escaping the top of his lip. "Why are you doing this? Why risk your life for something this stupid?" Trent looked up to Byrne with a sharp and daggering glair.

"Because, I love my friends and everyone else in my world…" He started as he pushed himself up off the ground and weakly readied his sword. "And I'll die before I let a punk like you lay one finger on them!" Trent growled before lunging at Byrne.

Byrne quickly put his hand up and misguided Trent sword to the side, exposing Trent with no protection on his side. Byrne quickly clasped his claw hand to Trent's wrist sharply, forcing him to drop his sword. Putting Trent's arm behind his back, Byrne pondered for a moment while pinning Trent to the ground, face down. "Lay a finger on them? Sounds interesting," Byrne admitted, sparking a rage in Trent.

"You better not—" Byrne flipped Trent over and grasped his gauntlet hand around Trent's face, cutting it slightly and hung his struggling body over the cliff.

"Sorry Link…" He sighed with a fake frown. "But your princess is in another castle," Suddenly, his grasp tightened slightly and he tossed Trent like a rag doll through the air towards Kakarico Village.

* * *

Courtney and Midna continued to watch the sky, hoping that they would see something. "I hope they're fine… I mean he, I hope he's fine!" Courtney corrected herself with a shake of her head.

Midna shot her a smug look and snickered. "Having feelings for the enemy are we?" She joked to a blushing Courtney. "It's fine… And don't worry; I'm sure our hero is doing just fine. He probably already stopped Byrne and is heading down right—" Just then, they saw a limp body falling from where Trent and Byrne went up to in the distance.

Their hearts sank when they saw the familiar green clothing and blue-ish shield on the falling body. "Oh HELL!" Midna screeched with wide eyes.

"TRENT!" They both screamed with terrified looks at the distant falling body.

Taking immediate action, Midna darted through the sky towards Trent with a determined but scared look in her eyes. "Midna! What are you doing?" Courtney called out to her with a shout.

Midna glanced behind her and shook her head while still speeding off after the plummeting boy. "I don't know!" She yelled back with uncertainty.

Courtney continued to watch Midna go after their falling comrade, to the point she didn't notice that Byrne was jumping down rock face towards her. Once he finally reached the bottom, Courtney turned her attention to him with fear. Byrne shot her an eye raise and walked over to her. "Hey, Princess," He greeted coldly but with a chuckle.

Courtney cringed at the call of 'Princess' said in the voice of her ex-boyfriend. Courtney swung her bow out and knocked an arrow to it while aiming at Byrne's head. "One more step, and I'll shoot this arrow right through your pig head!" Byrne stopped in his steps and looked her up and down.

"Wow, that's the fire I've been looking for," He laughed before taking one more step towards Courtney.

She pulled the string back slowly, readying to fire the arrow at his throat. Byrne noted her hesitant action and smiled behind his scarf. He shot his arm out and snapped the bow out of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, throwing her over his shoulder. "Let me go!" She ordered as she hit her fists into his back repetitively while he settled her over his shoulder calmly.

"Not gonna happen. I let you go, you go find help, they come here, then there'll be more bodies and it's just a hassle," Byrne explained to her, not really feeling her hits.

He started his way up the slope towards the Fire Temple with Courtney still struggling under his hold. "Grr, you're horrible, you know that?" She insulted him while still trying to break out of his grip.

"And you're a loud mouth. You know you'd be a lot hotter if you'd learn to stop talking… it's a real turn off," Byrne commented with a roll of his eyes.

"What? Talking's a turn off?"

"No, your voice is," Courtney fumed and flailed her arms against his back in hate.

"You know, Link will be back and when he does get back, he'll kick your butt!" Courtney snapped.

"If he does survive that fall, I doubt he'll come save you," Byrne laughed while reaching the top of the mountain's path.

Courtney plugged her ears and tottered her head side to side like a child. "La, la, la, I can't here you," She retorted in sing-song.

"Really? Tell me how you can do that because you're annoying me with that banshee call you call a voice!" Byrne snapped with a snarl.

"I know you are, but what am I?"

"Annoying as hell…" Byrne mumbled as the two of them entered the volcano and the entrance of the Fire Temple.

_

* * *

_

"No, no, no, no, no!"

Midna chanted in her mind exasperated as she stretched her glowing black 'hair' out in front of her as it morphed into a giant hand.

She quickly snatched at the air where Trent was still plummeting, running out of time as he drew closer and closer to the village below. Trent was limp and unconscious during his free fall and Midna's desperate attempts to grab him. Her giant 'hair' hand continued to snatch at him and snatch at him as Midna tried to keep up with his falling body. Soon, the hand snatched his left leg and Midna's face brightened with a grin. "Gotcha'," She summoned up all her force and yanked her head back, pulling her giant third 'arm' back.

Slowly, Trent's descent was curtailed and Midna carefully lowered him onto a soft patch of grass behind the city windmill. Once he was securely placed down, she retracted her hair and went over Trent's body. She grew shocked, dumbfounded, and raged when her eyes scanned over Trent's beaten and cut body. "That evil punk…" She cursed as she put her small hand atop one of Trent's cuts on his chest.

She stroked it carefully and looked to Trent's pained but rested face. She looked about her, checking if anyone was around. "Just one won't hurt…" she told herself before looking back to Trent.

She leaned up on his body to his face and pecked her lips on his cheek where one of his cuts where. Quickly she scooted away and looked about herself again. "What am I doing? Kissing a boy I don't even know? He's probably in love with that pushy princess," She told herself while her face tinted to a pinkish blush.

"But, I'm glad you're alive…" She told him, even though she knew he was out cold.

Looking to his body one more time, her face grew stern and she looked around the corner of the windmill. "I can't heal him without some kind of medical strips, splits, or—" Her eye drifted to a small shop behind a wooden fence a few yards away. "—or a potion…" She whispered devilishly.

Her body quickly sank into the shadows around her and she zoomed across the gap from the windmill to the small potion shop, using the shadows as her passage. Pulling herself out of the shadows, she pondered on how to take action now that she was in front of the door. "The best course of action would to do this upfront and ask the keeper if I can have one, but under the severity of the situation and the fact I have no money or that I don't look Hylian…" She trailed off.

Her hand rose up and brushed against the wooden frame of the door gently. Letting out a battle cry, the door exploded inwardly into the shop with a rattle and shutter from Midna's power. The shop keeper at the end of the room threw their hands in the air in panic while Midna drifted in, flaring her one fang. "Give me a potion. Now!" she demanded as she made shrapnel of wood fly up around her and pointed them at the shop keeper.

The keeper fumbled around a few bottles in fear and finally wrapped his hand around a bottle with a green liquid in it. "Uh, not the green one," Midna corrected him calmly.

"Why not?"

"I don't like green… give me the blue one," She insisted, pointing to another vial.

The keeper grabbed it and gestured her to take it. "This one?"

"Yeah, that's the one, thanks," Midna thanked with a polite smile before plucking it from his hand. She slowly drifted out of the shop and looked back at the shop keeper. "I'll repair the door next time… and I was never here, got it?" The shop keeper nodded and hid behind his counter as Midna disappeared outside of the broken doorway.

Taking one look at the vial and swishing the potion liquid within, she smiled to herself and flew back over to the back of the windmill. She took her position on Trent's side with a less concerned look. His breath started to draw shallow and Midna immediately popped the cork off the vial. "I don't know what it tastes like…" She whispered to him as her one free hand lifted his head up off the grass and pressed the lip of the vial into his mouth. "But it's probably something like the taste of not dying a slow death," She tilted the potion upward, sliding the liquid down his throat slowly until the entire bottle was emptied.

She gently put his head back down and drifted back a little to see if anything happened. To her pleasure, his wounds started to slowly close and his breaths returned to normal. His soft eyes flickered open, taking in the sunlight beating down on him from high in the sky. "W-what happened?" He asked groggily as he pushed himself up from the ground with one hand rubbing his pained forehead.

Midna bolted towards him and helped him up to his feet with a caring smile. "You got a little scuffed up by Byrne. But you're fine now," Trent looked to Midna with a brow raise.

He then noticed an empty vial in her hand. "…You saved me?" He asked with some sense of embarrassment.

Midna's small body stiffened up and she turned her back to him. "Of course. It's no big thing… I was worried about you," she expressed with a somewhat panicked voice.

Before Trent could retort, Midna quickly grasped his hand and pulled him to the latter that headed down from the small landing they were on. "Whatever, we have to get moving. Byrne probably already captured Courtney," Midna informed him as he started his way down the latter.

"You left Courtney alone?" Trent snapped with a surprised eye look to Midna as he reached the ground at the end of the latter.

"Yeah, I had to save you or you would have been dead!" She snapped back harshly with a flare of her teeth.

Trent looked down, a tad ashamed that he just snapped at her. "…Besides… He's not going to hurt her. He _can't_ hurt her," Midna assured him, trying to get him out of his slump.

He picked his head back up and gave Midna a questioning glance. "It's hard to explain… it's a girl thing," Midna snickered before diving into Trent's shadow.

"We still have to hurry," Trent pointed out as he started to move.

When he tried to move his feet, his boots stuck to the ground like glue. He turned his head around to see that his shadow was twined around his ankles. "Midna?"

"Don't be so rash Trent. If you go in there sword a blazing, he'll just beat you up again," Midna pointed out with somewhat of an echo in her voice.

"Then what do you propose we do?" Trent asked.

Midna flew out of his shadow and looked him clear in his eye with a devilish grin. "How good are you at running on all four?"

* * *

The heat within the volcano was intense, intense to the point of actual visibility. Waves of magma crashed against giant pillars of combined stalagmites and stalactites in the red sea below the small stone walkways. Byrne sat uncomfortably on a giant stone slab with a triforce symbol carved into it while Courtney sat with her back pressed to a rock wall with her body bond up with rope. Byrne's face was drenched in sweat and he panted harshly behind his scarf. His sharp eyes looked to Courtney who was calmly sitting in the burning room with not a drop of sweat gracing her face. "How the heck aren't you sweating?" He asked as he picked himself up off the ground, his clothes feeling like weighted wet cloths on him. "Are you cold blooded or something?"

"No, it's just that I don't wear heavy, over clothed garments and I'm not even thinking about how hot it is here… how the lava below is crashing against those burning stones, or how the floor below is as hot as the debris from a bonfire, or how—"

"Shut it! You're trying to make me hotter then I already am!" Byrne snapped as he covered his ears and turned away.

"Just so I know… why did you take me here? Shouldn't you take me to your leader or something?" Courtney asked with a bored look.

Byrne turned back to her while he loosened his scarf and clothes for some cooling. "Like I'm handing you over to him. You're worth more than any glory that loser leader can give me," Byrne laughed as he picked Courtney up off the ground with a pull on her ropes.

Courtney's face turned to a blush as she came eye to eye with Byrne. "I… I am?" She asked, flattered by his comment.

"Sure, you're—"Before he could say anymore, they both heard an echoeing growl in the distance.

They both turned their attention down the rocky stretch of land from where they were to the entrence to the volcano. What they saw was a grey wolf with white legs trotting across the ground towards them at a break neck pace, panting and growling as it drew closer and closer to Byrne and Courtney. Byrne quickly pushed Courtney to the wall she was previously sitting to and readied his hands out in front of him. The wolf leapt up off the ground and tackled Byrne in the chest, tottering him back slightly. "What the heck? A wolf!" Byrne cursed as he clamped his claw hand around the side of the wolf, who in turn shot his neck up and bit its teeth deep into Byrne's shoulder.

Byrne cringed for a second before trying to shake the wolf off, but to no avail. The wolf dug its teeth in deeper and cut the nails of his paws into Byrne's arms for a better hold in the fight. "Why the hell is a wolf attacking me!" He roared as he flipped the wolf around, trying to get free while also punching the wolf in the side with his claw.

That's when their eyes locked, and Byrne saw his answer. "Hero?" He asked with a slight laugh.

The wolf pushed Byrne to the ground while still cutting at his body with his claws and fangs. Courtney, who was watching the fight, became excited and overjoyed. "Link! It's you!" Courtney cheered at the wolf.

"_Alright, they know who I am now… ready Midna?"_ Trent mentally told Midna while he dug his claws into Byrne more.

Byrne finally looped his fingers around Trent's neck and pulled him off. With a laugh, he pulled himself up off the ground and continued to strangle the 'dog'. "Nice try, hero. But did you really think turning into a wolf was going to stop me?" Byrne asked while Trent clawed to try and get free.

Then, for a second, Trent stopped and seemed to smile. Suddenly, a dark aura surrounded him and his wolf body stretched and morphed into a man. "No, but it did get me close to you. NOW MIDNA!" He mocked and cried out to his shadow.

Byrne looked quickly at his shadow to see the stone helmeted imp fly out with the master sword in her hand. "Ah crap—" Byrne cursed as Midna did a short battle cry and swung the sword at Byrne's claw gauntlet, severing it from his arm.

Byrne staggered back as he dropped Trent and his metal gauntlet clanged to the ground with an echo. Trent quickly plucked the master sword from Midna and ran up to Courtney and severed the ropes tying her up. Once free, she hugged Trent and kissed his cheek. "Thank you Trent. I knew you'd make it," She told him as she held him.

His face turned bright red and he looked around him. "Is it hot in here or is it—"

"It's hot in here, we're in a volcano," Midna interrupted him with irritation but gave a joking eye roll.

Still on his knees, Byrne gritted his teeth and glared at Trent. "You son of a—" He fumed surly, as he clenched his severed arm. "You're lucky that it wasn't a real hand!" He roared before charging at him, producing a broad sword from behind him.

Trent readied himself for battle, but stumbled to the ground from his wounds during his last assault. Byrne continued to charge at Trent, when Midna blurted something out. "Zelda, protect Link!" Courtney didn't hesitate to follow the order and stood proudly with her arms stretched out in protection in front of Trent.

Byrne quickly raised his blade in the hair for a horizontal slash, but froze as it neared Courtney's shoulder. Courtney looked from his sword to his face, seeing that his eyes were still determined, but his hand was shaking. "Come on… cut her down!" He told his arm, but it refused to move.

With a grunt, he tossed the blade aside, hitting the ground with a clank before tipping off the edge and plummeting into the sea of magma below. Courtney looked at the dropped sword with wide onyx eyes before looking back at Byrne's rage filled teal eyes. With a swing of his only hand, he aimed at Courtney. But again, his hand stopped short of knocking her across the face. With even more rage in his eyes, he threw his fist repetitively at Courtney's body but each time only stopping and half way into the hit; never even touching her once. Trent looked passed Courtney dumbfounded at this strange event. _"How can't he hit her?"_ he thought as Midna folded her small arms and smugly smirked.

"_Gottcha'," _She inwardly claimed, watching Byrne fail to hit the princess.

"You know what?" Byrne started to say as he turned around and walked over to his severed claw. "I don't need to stay here and waste my time wit you dweebs," He picked up his claw and turned back around to them. "So yeah, take your sage and do whatever… but this isn't over Hero!" He barked as a dark cloud of smoke engulfed him from underfoot. "You too Princess," Just like that, he vanished and left the three of them alone in the volcano.

Courtney settled her arms down and took in a calming breath of the boiling air. "Are you okay Trent?" She asked as she turned around.

Trent just shot her a cocky smile and shrugged. "Pretty much. Just a little cut up on the sides," He joked as he slid his back up the rocky wall behind so he could stand.

Midna sighed in relief and drifted over to the two of them. "Close call. But we better hurry and find the sage before Ganon sends another one of his goons to kill you, Trent," Midna informed Trent and Courtney.

They nodded and started on their way out of the volcano, Midna and Courtney supporting Trent on their shoulders to lessen his pain. Part way there, they noticed a half naked person standing in the way of the entrance to the volcano. When he caught sight of them, his face widened into a giant, bright grin. "Courtney! Trent! You're alive!" The overweight lug yelled as he ran up to them and pulled them into a giant hug that Midna was barely able to avoid.

The two of them dryly coughed from the heavy pressure of the boy's hug. "O-Owen?" Trent asked as he looked up at giant's playful eyes.

Courtney looked too then clamped her eyes shut in disgust. "Gah, its worse than the original sage," She grumbled, trying to erase the sight of Owen in a paper like underpants piece.

Own released the two of them and looked excited between the two of them. "Owen… It's good to see you too, but we have a lot to tell you—"

"Don't worry, Beth told me everything," he laughed, bringing a slight surprise to Trent's face.

"Beth?" Suddenly, Beth fluttered in and put herself between Owen and Trent.

"You guys did great! You beat Byrne— sorta –and now we have the third sage freed!" Beth congratulated as she fluttered excitedly in front of all them.

Trent eyed Owen with disbelief as he just continued to smile obliviously. "Owen, you're not shocked or weirded out by any of this?"

"Oh I am, but Beth told me everything about what you guys are doing and what I have to do… and I also love these new clothes!" Owen cheered before doing a thrust like dance, invoking a gag from Midna and Courtney.

"Clothes is an over statement of what those are…"Courtney mumbled to herself as she watched Owen stop his dance.

Just like the other two times, the slab of stone in the middle of the area behind them exploded a warm light then ensued the entire room and them. "Here we go again," Beth snorted as the whole group of them where warped from the broiling volcano, leaving it empty of all life.

* * *

With his metallic claw hand clenched tightly in his human hand, Byrne stormed down the slope of the mountain in a huff. "Why couldn't I hit her? I also hit girls… but it's like she was different or something," He rambled to himself as he trotted angrily down the mountain path.

As he reached the fork between the volcano and the Goron City at the bottom, he noticed something glinting nearby. He focused his eyes closely on it then groaned when he figured out what it was. "Onox, what do you want?" Byrne snapped before picking back up on his trail towards Onox.

The armored giant simply shrugged his clad armored shoulders and snapped a laugh. "Oh nothing," Byrne simply walked passed him, not interested in any of Onox's mischief or trouble. "Quite sad you were not able to harm such a simple and weak woman, isn't it?" Onox called to him, not even turning to make eye contact with him.

Byrne froze in his steps, but picked back up after a brief moment. "Whatever. Don't you have a mission or something to do?" Byrne retorted while he headed down the path to the villege below.

"Yes… You are right, I must go prepare. Ciao for now, Byrne," Onox waved good bye to Byrne before turning his head towards the Fire Temple.

"It's time for me to take matters into my own hands," He muttered to himself darkly as he clenched his gauntlet fist infront of his face, stressing his point.

**

* * *

**

Oh, how that plot thickens and thickens. And how the romance grows deeper and deeper.

**None the less, I'll see you when the next chapter comes out in awhile, or I'll see you in other stories I write, eather way I'll see you.**

**What is Onox planning?**

**Where did Beth find Owen?**

**Why couldn't Byrne hit Courtney?**

**Who will be the next sage?**

**How come Skull Kid gets no respect?**

**Some of this will be answered in the next chapter!**


	10. It's a brand new day: The dark mobilizes

**Friends, Enemies, people I've never met**, **I am back!**

**Hope i haven't been gone too long for you all to forget about me... and if you have forgotten, look back at the other chapters and look at my profile hah.**

**Anyway, the next chapter, a new taste, a new... just read.  
**

* * *

The scorching heat that was once around them had left them in exchange for the cool but ominous feel of the Spirit World. Trent and the rest of his team landed on the center platform, excluding Owen who appeared on the platform adjacent to the now glowing red emblem. Midna had hid from anyone's sight inside Courtney's shadow as the other people within the room grew bright faces when they saw their friends had returned. "You made it safe!" Bridgette cheered as she leaned slightly off the side of the platform she was dangling her feet off.

DJ looked up and saw that Owen was standing on a platform. "And you found Owen… But where's your pants, man?" DJ asked with a disturbed but somewhat relieved look for his friend's safety.

Bridgette looked to Owen too to see what DJ meant. Her olive eyes grew wide and she gagged with her head whipping away from the sight. Courtney and Trent couldn't help but snicker about her reaction. "So that's three of you guys safely here," Trent proclaimed, his lips curled to a proud smirk.

Just then, the towering Goron, Darunia, appeared behind Owen with a powerful grin slapped on his face. "WELCOME!" He yelled at Owen, startling him and shaking the entirety of the spirit world.

Owen looked up at rock skinned man, and then looked at his small loincloth. "Hahaha, you gotta be the Fire Sage, right? So I'm taking your place?" Owen figured, bringing even more of a grin to the muscular rock man's face.

"HAH! I like this boy! He's smart!" Darunia chuckled while putting a powerful hand on Owen's shoulder.

Just like that, Saria flew out from behind Bridgette with a pout and her hands on her hips. "Puh-lease, Bridgette is a way better sage," Saria snapped with a cute smile and eye roll.

Before Darunia could retort her, Courtney cleared her throat out loudly with a scowl across her face. "Not that this isn't important… Oh wait, it isn't important!" Courtney growled.

Trent quickly tried to settle her down with a hand on her shoulder. Courtney simmered down but still glared at the two sages. "You're right, we should move on. The fire sage has been put into power, so…" Darunia turned his attention to the no shimmering blue emblem next to the red.

The marking in the middle of the sapphire hexagon looked remarkably like a six point snow flake. Trent and Courtney turned their attention to it, anxious to meet the next sage. Like the others, the sage slowly phased in atop the hexagon. This sage had a more adult and mature form. But contrary to any of the others, she had slick blue skin and fins erecting out of her back arms in a fan for both arms. Her keen purple eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked at the two people before her, and the fairy shuttering with excitement. "…Really? These are our heroes?" She asked with a look at the other two visible sages.

Courtney was visibly at a loss for words at her bluntness while Trent had looked away with his face completely flushed in embarrassment. _"Why is a being that's supposed to be respected completely naked?"_ Trent thought to himself.

"Well I'm sorry," Courtney snapped back to her usual self and gave the new sage a sarcastic tone and curtsy "We should go find you _proper_ heroes," Courtney told the sage, keeping up with her sarcastic tune.

The other sages looked down at the two girls going at each other's throats; when the blue summon spirit perked her lips to a smile. "I like your style…" She admitted to Courtney. Courtney put a hand on her hip and smirked proudly. "…Hero. You can learn something about a spine from this girl," The sage told Trent, who didn't react. "I am Princess Ruto, Sage of Water," The blue fish like sage told the lot of them. "You will be heading to Lake Hylia; a completely boring lake with a temple deep under the lake's surface," Ruto explained dryly, not even interested about what it was she was telling them.

"Wait… I thought Ganondorf drained the lake?" Beth asked as she recalled her time playing the game.

Ruto shrugged and looked at the little fairy girl. "It got better," Ruto told her flatly. "We will teleport you right outside of Kakariko Village so you can get right to your—"

"Hold on, hold on," Trent interrupted Ruto but still looked away from her. "When you return us to Hyrule… you can place us anywhere?"

"Yeah. We're sages, we can do whatever we want," Ruto told him; which seemed to make the team spark with anger.

"So why do you keep—" As Trent attempted to press further, the center stone emitting it's warm glow and swallowed up the team and warped them out of the realm.

The three sages faded away as well, leaving the three new sages in the realm. They all remained quite for a time, adjusting themselves to the abysmal quiet. Bridgette felt that remaining like this was too awkward or even more awkward then already was, so she chimed up. "So Owen. How was your trip to this world go?" Bridgette asked sincerely.

"Oh man. It was weird! I was going to go get some Mellowmars when everything went white around me. Then when I could finally see…" Owen took a deep breath before he went on since he rushed his story. "… When I could finally see, I saw a crowed of people above me looking at me all confused. I guess I landed in their city with pretty big bang, hahaha. After I got up, Beth found me and took me to the temple-y place…" Owen explained further.

DJ nodded with understanding and told his story about just appearing in the cathedral a few minutes before Trent and Courtney found him. Bridgette on the other hand, went into thinking about Owen's story. _"Why didn't he wake up inside the temple like me or DJ…?"_

* * *

Trent felt his feet land firmly on the grassy plains of Hyrule and looked around his surroundings. He was half happy to see the welcome sign of Kakariko village behind him along with the rest of the city, but it still brought a sort of annoyance to his mind. "If they can put us anywhere, why can't they just put us at the next temple?" He grumbled to himself.

He turned back to the field as he felt another person being summoned near him. Sure enough, Courtney's form appeared and she checked her surroundings too. "Great… they can send us anywhere and they send us to a place far away from the temple," the princess growled.

She let out a sigh and turned to Trent, with Midna swinging out of her shadow and putting an elbow on Courtney's shoulder to lean on. "It doesn't matter, let's just-" Before Courtney could say anything more, Epona galloped up from behind her and sniffed her head.

Midna flung herself away from Courtney and the horse with a loud yelp. "What's with the horse?" She asked, clinging to Trent's arm.

"Uh… We're borrowing it from a friend. Helps us get around faster," Trent informed his cowering imp friend.

Courtney narrowed her eyes while stroking Epona in a greeting for her traveling companion. _"I thought she's been with us this whole time… why doesn't she know about Epona?_" Courtney pondered.

With Epona fully calmed, Courtney hopped atop her stead and pointed it in the direction of the field. She looked behind the horse at Trent and Midna. "Coming?" She asked, patting Epona's back where they could sit.

Midna looked up at Trent and both their lips turned to smirks. "Naa… We've got our own way of travel now," Midna told Courtney.

She replied with a confused look, but it was short lived, for her question was answered. With a snap of Midna's small fingers, Trent fell to all four and his body and clothes quickly became pitch black. In the blackened form, his body morphed to that of a wolf; tail and all. Once the black drained from his body and was replaced by grey and white fur, Midna hopped onto his back. "Now then… we where heading to a temple?" Midna joked as she moved Trent up to Epona's position.

"_Great… Just great. Now they have a thing…. I'm not jealous, I'm just saying," _Courtney hissed inwardly, but gave the imp and her 'wolf' a smile. "Of course. But Beth will have to show us the way," Courtney replied.

Taking her cue, Beth fluttered out from behind Trent's sharp left ear and out towards the field. Her body glowed its sapphire light as she studied the area they where at for a moment. "Alrighty. I know the way from here," Beth let them know before zipping off into the distance.

Courtney looked down at Midna and cracked a friendly smile. "First one there doesn't have to fight the next enemy," Courtney challenged, which Midna immediately kicked Trent to.

Trent burst down the field after Beth with Midna howling in enjoyment. Courtney giggled to herself and whipped Epona's reins, charging the strong horse to gallop off after the rest of the group.

* * *

Dull eyes flickered open as the boy of straw groggily groaned. He sat himself up with the bristles of his body flicking against the blades of crisp summer grass under him. Looking around, the boy noted no one was bothering him or even noticing them, simply chalking it up as another thing that happens in this town. "I guess Byrne thought I'd be safer away from the fight…" Skull Kid told himself as he got onto his feet and readjusted his hat. "He cares a lot about me, such a good friend," Laughing for a minute, he ignored the pain coursing through his miniscule body.

Then for the first time since waking up, he noticed where it was he was. A brown wooden fence was built around the area about him. At first he scratched his straw head and pondered what it was that they kept inside these fences. To his dismay, he remembered. "Oh crap…" He whimpered. Soon after his relaxation, a flock of feathered fiends assaulted him from behind with a loud screech of crows and clucks. "Why am I so tasty!" He screamed on the top of his lungs while kicking and slapping at the air around him to get the birds off him.

The white cuckoos plucked and stripped at Skull Kid's straw body. Just as quick as the flock came, in one loud squawk, the birds retreated away from the boy. Skull Kid peaked up from under his arms to see why they ran away. To his surprise, not one but two black robed figures with cloth like crowns looking down at him; one with disdain in it's hateful sky blue eyes, and the other with excitement in it's teal lively eyes. "What a waist. He has the mask of ultimate power and he can't even handle a flock of birds. Pah-thetic," The sky blue eyed one said, a flowing mane of fire flowing down her back.

Skull Kid lifted himself up in a levitation and set himself back down in front of the two of them, standing a bit shorter then both of them. "They swarmed me! I don't even know why they keep attacking me anyway. You believe me right?" Skull Kid stuttered with a plea to them.

"Oh please, why should—"

"I _believe_ he was talking to _me_, Kotake!" The other one scoffed, the ice atop its head forming a somewhat masculine but strangely feminine 'hair' style.

"You, me, what difference does it make, Koume? Now zip it and let's deal with him, sister," Skull Kid gulped at the term 'deal with', but stood in place as the two of them started to bicker.

"For the last time, I'm a boy!" The ice haired one wined with an effeminate tone.

"Gah. You're a woman! You're letting this whole 'world mix' thing get to you way more then the rest of us… I mean you just got a manicure!" Her flaming hair sparked more the angrier she grew.

Koume checked her hand and smiled. "I know. And it's a fabulous job well done," Kotake palmed herself in the forehead and groaned.

Skull Kid continued to look back and forth between the two "sisters" as they argued and fought at each other. "I'm just goanna… yeah," Skull Kid slowly side stepped away from the two of them and hopped the fence.

The two of them didn't notice his departure and just kept up their yelling. "And another thing, you don't take care of you're hair enough,"

"What hair? It's a flowing fire!"

"And you wonder how that happened?"

"I swear, if I could just—where did Skull Brat go?" The two of them looked around the small village, but didn't see the straw body boy anywhere.

* * *

Afternoon sun rays gleamed relaxingly over the calm, serine Lake Hylia. The old but firm rope bridges that clung between the two platforms islands on the lake's face swayed peacefully in the noon wind. On the main island in the center of the lake, the stone slab with the three triangles on it was not at peace like the ones before. Atop it was Veran with her arms folded looking out over the still water. "Skull Dweeb failed miserably… Dark Link ran like a baby… and Byrne burned out when he lost his cool. But…" She waved her hand out in front of her, making the water flash a blinding out.

Once the light cleared, the face of the lake turned into a lucid vision of Midna riding atop her 'wolf' stretched out across the water. Veran smirked to herself as she watched Midna and 'Link' traveling near each other in the vision within the water. "I think I can use their winnings to _my_ victory," she mused darkly as she continued to watch the group within her 'viewing pool'.

As she continued, a dark portal ripped open on the island across the bridge from the platform she was on, drawing her attention away from the lake and to the small dark warp way. Slowly, a black figure crawled out from the dark abyss and pulled itself out of it. Veran narrowed her eyes and blew a hair out of her vision with displeasure. "You finally show up after you're cowardly action… and you're too weak to even stand. Why am I not surprised?" Veran scowled as she yelled across the bridge at the fumbling man.

"V-Veran… I need help," Dark Link asked in a dry and beaten voice.

Veran continued to watch the shadowed hero staggering with a struggling pace across the bridge. "…Are… are you _that _hurt?" She asked, her hate filled look slowly dropping.

Dark Link made no response, finally succumbing to his wounds and collapsing on the ground before Veran. Veran looked down at the beaten and tattered clothes on Dark Link, hate finally empty from her coal eyes. "…I guess… I can't just leave you here. You'll get in the way," She surrendered with a sigh.

With a flick of her wrist, Dark Link's limp, unconscious body drifted off the ground. With another flick of her other wrist, she opened her own portal and gently delivered Dark Link through it. When he was all the way in, it swallowed him up and disappeared. "He'll be safer back at base… not that I care," Veran scoffed, looking away from where the portal once stood and back at the lake.

A cool lake breeze swept by her, jostling Veran's clad dress as she returned to waiting. "…Those wounds weren't done by sword alone…" She told herself, in an attempt to pass the time. "That rotten imp probably did it… Weird Goth Girl…" Veran scrunched her nose for a second, confused by her own words. "Weird Goth Girl? Why did I say that?"

* * *

**_READ, REVIEW_, and spread the word.**

**I hope you enjoyed my return to this story, I really wanted to caiter to what people expect of me but still keep a fresh air about it. Oh well, see you in the big times.**

**Who will be the sage of water?**

**Why is Skull Kid such a push over?**

**When will Trent confess his new and conflicting feelings?**

**What is Veran planning?**

**How will Ganondorf and his evil minions possibly stop Trent and Courtney?**

**I may just answer half of these next chapter, who know!**


	11. Sage of Water: Calm before the storm

**I have worked hard on this chapter... but it still doesn't feel right... but i'll post it anyway because my scedule is too full to re-do an entire chapter, but i'm sure you'll all enjoy it just the same. And, like i said, or i think i said, these chapters will still keep the same comedic element as chapters before it, but we'll also be delving into more darker and intriget levels of the story... so yeah, great. Without further adue and i'm sure you already skipped this part, lets get to the story.**

* * *

For a wolf racing against an actually race horse, Trent was keeping neck and neck with Epona. Trent couldn't help but think it was because his passenger was much lighter then Epona's. "Wanna give up now?" Midna asked as she glanced over at Courtney, her small hands clenched tightly to the tuff of fur on Trent's back.

Courtney laughed friendly to Midna and urged Epona to gallop faster. "You wish," Courtney called back as Epona pulled ahead.

Midna smirked and looked down at Trent's wolf eyes. "Should we just..?" Trent nodded with a pant while still running.

Midna snickered to herself and pulled Trent to a stop. Courtney had already galloped too far ahead to notice they had stopped. Midna did a quick stretch and threw her hands in the air. "Next stop… the lake," Almost immediately, the two of their bodies turned pitch black and quickly broke apart into small rectangles little by little; each piece darting up into the sky.

Courtney confidently smirked as she kept her eyes locked on the distant fluttering orb in the distance. "How was a wolf going to beat a prize horse?" Courtney laughed to herself as she put on a cocky confident face.

It was short lived as she saw black "needles" zip above her and Beth. "…I'm not surprised…" Courtney sighed through a sincere smile.

Epona galloped onward after Beth and soon, arrived at their destination. Courtney slid off Epona's back and took a few steps forward. The "needles" of darkness had already plunged into the ground and formed the two that had been turned into them. Only now, Trent was in his human form when the darkness drained from him. Beth drifted ahead of them and broke into a giant smile when she looked out in front of her. "Lake Hylia," She told everyone.

The calm blue water that wavered slightly in the morning breeze seemed to welcome them heartedly. They saw that the whole area was pretty much enclosed in towering rock walls that seemed to be natural but also man made. "It's beautiful…" Trent declared softly.

The three other members of his team nodded in agreement. Before they could take another step into the Lake Hylia area, they heard the sound of rustling from behind them. Simultaneously, they slumped their shoulders and groaned. "What does it take to get rid of him?" Trent grumbled as he turned around.

Sure enough, Skull Kid was standing in the exit path with his arms crossed. "We meet again heroes, this time for the last time," Skull Kid laughed, but the team just narrowed their eyes and yawned mockingly; except Courtney.

"You know what?" Courtney started to say as she stepped forward in a huff towards Skull Kid.

She clamped her hands around each of his arms and lifted him off the ground. "I'm sick of you! At first you where _some_ kind of threat. But now you're just… just…"

"A nuisance?" Beth guessed.

"A pest?" Trent guessed as well.

"An annoying little brat that we'd be better off throwing into a Cuckoo pit?" Midna added.

Courtney glared at Skull Kid as she still held him up off the ground. "How about all of the above…" Courtney hissed, forcing a fearful gulp from the small Skull Kid.

Courtney then looked to Midna with a mischievous smirk. "Midna… what's the worse place in this world?" Midna smirked devilishly at the question, while also putting Trent and Beth in the blank.

Midna drifted off the ground and met Courtney's look to the now shaking with a rattling swish Skull Kid. "I would have to say the inside of the Fire Temple… it's filled with flames, bats, flaming bats, lizards, flaming lizards, and flaming lizards wielding swords," Midna informed Courtney darkly, but still keeping a pleased smile.

Skull Kid quickly tried to squirm out of Courtney's hands, but to no avail. "Mind sending him there?" Midna nodded to Courtney's request.

Skull Kid, Trent, and Beth alike all became stiff at this harsh action. But before any of them could protest, Midna snapped her fingers and Skull Kid –screaming and howling like his other worldly counterpart- was turned to darkness and quickly broken apart as his body pieces darted towards Death Mountain. Both Beth and Trent looked at the two girls as they turned around with disbelieving bewilderment. "…That was harsh," Trent commented flatly.

"Oh please, he'll be fine. After all the other things he's been through, do you think that'll kill him? It'll at least give us a few hours of peace from him," Courtney retorted as she walked passed Trent and closer to the lake.

Midna drifted close behind her, but stopped next to Trent. "Hate it or not, the enemy is starting to catch up on us… And if we can slow them down, shouldn't we?" Midna reasoned with Trent.

Trent looked down at the ground for a second, but agreed with Midna. She rose the corner of her lip up and took Trent's hand. "Come on, let's free the next sage," She pulled Trent along with her to the nearby rope bridge.

Beth remained in place with her glassy wings fluttering, deep in thought. _"Skull Kid… a creature that was driven to a rage filled attempt to take out an entire world because of disrespect and indifference… Tyler… a boy who took a lot of punishment and disrespect… I have a bad feeling about sending Skull Kid to the Fire Temple,"_ Beth mused to herself as she hurried after the rest of her group.

* * *

Lake Hylia, much like any other place of resent, was at peace. The slight chirping of birds in the distant sounded throughout the enclosed lake area. The rope bridges that connected the main land and two small platforms swayed gently in the morning breeze, letting out small creaks as Trent and the others crossed it slowly. Trent had taken the lead and traveled considerably ahead of the others, leaving Midna and Courtney alone. The two of them remained eerily quite towards one another for a time, focusing on just walking the bridge. But, as Midna glanced over at Courtney through her impish yellow eyes, she felt she had to talk. "Um, so… you seem to handle yourself pretty well in a fight," She commented with a slight laugh.

Courtney's corner of the lip lifted up and stifled a giggle. "Someone has to around here. I mean Trent—" Courtney stopped herself, seeing Midna's smile had faded and she just looked flatly at her. "Yeah…" Courtney stroked her arm nervously while Midna narrowed her eyes.

"Tell me… What happens when this is all done?" Courtney blinked once; take back by Midna's question.

"What do you mean?"

"What happens when we get all the sages the Spirit Realm, and fix the world collapse thing?"

"…I guess we…" Courtney couldn't bring herself to say it as she took one look at Midna.

"Yeah… I thought as much," Midna sighed, but quickly slapped a smile on her face. "Then we'll have to make the most of us being together while we are, right?" Midna snickered with a nudge to Courtney's arm.

Courtney nudged her back with a welcoming grin. "Of course. But say, can you tell me something?" Midna tilted her head and nodded. "This 'Zelda' girl… was she just a princess?"

"Heh. If Zelda was just a princess, I wouldn't be standing here today… well floating here. It's a long story why and I rather not get into it—but the truth is… no, she was way more then a princess. She could fight like a fiend, risk her life so readily, and…" Midna checked Courtney and smirked. "I heard some things about her teaching Link a few things…" Courtney's mocha skin face flushed red and she looked away from Midna.

Midna let out a strong laugh and she held her sides. "Oh no, not that… although… naa. What I meant was that I heard –never saw- that Zelda could kick just as much butt as Link," Midna explained.

"How?"

"I don't really know actually… she didn't get a chance to show me before I went home," Midna told Courtney, a saddened look slowly crossing her pale-ish face.

"Home? But if you went home… why are you here?" Courtney questioned as politely as she could.

Suddenly, Beth fluttered between the two of them and looked at Midna. "And why don't you look—" Midna shot her hand out and pinched the little fairy's wings.

With a flick of her wrist, she tossed Beth up towards Trent and looked back at Courtney. "I'm here because… it's a long story,"

"And you don't want to tell me,"

"Not yet…" Midna clenched her tiny hands into fists but still gave Courtney a friendly smile and look of her one visible eye.

Courtney bowed her head in understanding and returned her look to Trent upfront. "…Do you like him?" Midna asked out of nowhere, startling Courtney.

"Huh? No, not at all, we're just—"

"Alright, I know where this is going… so let me change the question: what was his ex-girlfriend like?" Courtney calmed down slightly, seeing as this question wasn't so much as embarrassing, but was going to be hard to phrase.

"She was… smart, and… unique. I guess- if you ignore recent events- she's a pretty good person… she does make me laugh some times, I have to admit," Courtney admitted slowly, phrasing each word carefully.

"But… you hate her, isn't that right?"

"Hate is a strong word…" She replied with a nervous laugh.

"Strong… but right," Courtney slumped her shoulders and looked down at the ground she walked on.

"_I said it so openly during the show… so why am I having second thoughts,"_

"I won't ask _what_ she did to you to make you hate her, or _why_ it was so bad. But I will ask _when_ will you forgive her if you ever will?" Midna asked on with a certain cool look to her eye.

Courtney looked at her and couldn't help but visualize Gwen talking to her instead of Midna. "…I think I have…" Courtney said under her breath.

"What was that?" Midna cupped her hand over her ear so she could hear her better.

"I said never… my pride is worth more then one friend," Courtney scoffed sarcastically.

They halted as they reached the first platform, Trent looking about the area curiously. "Do you see something?" Courtney asked Trent as she and Midna caught up behind him.

"No… and that's the problem. At the Cathedral, Skull Kid attacked us—"

"Attacked _you_, and did a pretty good job at beating you up," Courtney corrected him.

Trent ignored her interruption and just went on. "And at the Forest Temple a group of monsters were already there waiting for us. Then when we got to the Fire Temple—"

"Byrne attacked us before we could even get close…" Midna mused, starting to get the idea.

"Right. So then why is it that nothing's happening?" Trent asked the three other members of the party.

They all looked to Beth as she sat atop Trent's hat with a plain expression. "…What?"

"You're the one who's supposed to know everything," Courtney pointed out sharply.

"Well yeah, but if you haven't noticed, nothing is normal around here… not even for Hylian standards," Beth replied defensively.

Just then, they heard the distant sound of foot steps crossing the rope bridge ahead of them. They all quickly looked down its way to see a teal scantily clad clothed woman wearing a strange dip like hat on her head. Midna looked at her curiously while the other three groaned and looked up at the sky after they got a good look at her face. "Why?" The three of them asked the heavens above them.

The woman crossing the bridge smirked at their actions towards her approach and let out a low laugh. "You don't seem to be happy to see me? Or is it who I remind you of that you're not happy to see?" She asked in the painfully familiar voice of the most hated girl they all knew.

Trent's jaw dropped along with the others and he quickly unsheathed his sword and put his shield up. "What are you—"

"Save it hero… I know everything," She scoffed as she planted her feet onto the platform they where all standing on.

None of the others responded beyond preparing their weapons. She looked up at Beth and rolled her eyes as she pointed a fingerer at her. "You… Nerd Fairy… give them the details on me so we can start," She ordered Beth.

"_Am I doomed to be bossed around by Heather in any world?"_ She cursed in her mind.

"Veran… the evil bi—Witch, evil witch…" Beth introduced the woman before them.

"Great, so you _are_ good for something. But you're not worth much else other then that…" Beth growled at "Heather" from her words, but quickly hid under Trent's hat as she saw a devilish glint in Veran's eyes.

"Not that your not—oh wait, you're not threats," Veran laughed to herself, not even preparing herself for battle.

Trent arced his sword up for a readying strike, but Veran just rolled her eyes. "Already ready to cut me down? Guess I'm not surprised… Maybe that rashness and hate is why Gwen left you," Trent almost dropped his sword at the cold words Veran uttered.

Courtney, wide eyed and surprised, looked to Trent fearfully. "How..?"

"And maybe that's why you won't tell Midna the truth," The air seemed to be getting thicker for Courtney and Trent as they listened to Veran.

"Don't you dare," Courtney knocked an arrow and aimed it for Veran's head.

Veran patted her hand to her lips and let out a fake yawn. "I wasn't planning on telling her anything… but now she knows you two are hiding something from her," She gave a conniving as Trent looked over to Midna.

He mentally told himself to work it out later and faced Veran once more. "Are you just going to keep talking our ears off, or are you going to fight?" Trent challenged the sorceress.

"I see no reason to… you couldn't even bring yourself to take down Byrne… and _he_ was holding back," Veran mocked them deeper.

"…He was holding back?" Courtney asked weakly.

"Guess he couldn't bring himself to use his full power on his girlfriend… oh, _ex-_girlfriend, almost forgot. He dumped you didn't he?" In a flash of white hate, Courtney aimed her bow and fired an arrow at Veran without thinking.

Veran smirked and tilted her head back. _"Check,"_ Veran thought as the arrow pierced her chest deeply and staggered her back.

Everyone looked to Courtney surprised and Trent furrowed his brows. "Courtney… I'm—" As Trent put down his sword, Courtney's eyes went wide.

"Trent, get down!" She screamed before lunging her body into Trent's, knocking him down.

As Trent hit the grassy knoll of the ground, he saw a wisp of purple smoke engulf Courtney. "What the—" Trent looked to where Veran was, but saw the only thing there was an arrow laying on the grass.

Trent's mind grew wild with thoughts, but was snapped back to the real world when he saw Courtney hit the floor. He quickly staggered to his feet and ran up to Courtney. "Court, are you alright?" He asked as he grabbed Courtney's hand.

Once Trent's hand touched Courtney's, he felt a cold chill creep up his spine. "I'm fine. Not so sure about Courtney though," His heart sank as he heard not just Courtney's voice, but Veran's voice leading it.

A looming purple aura trickled out of Courtney's back and framed her shape. Trent quickly jumped away from 'Courtney' and watched as he body lifted itself off the ground and levitated off the ground slightly. "I'll be honest. I thought you'd attack me first… But an attack is an attack," 'Veran' sighed darkly as she rested Courtney's cheek on her hand.

"What have you done!" Trent ordered for an answer.

"What are you stupid? I took over her body? Honestly, Goth Imp could probably tell that," Veran groaned from personal annoyance.

Midna drifted forward and joined Trent for battle. "Goth Imp? Good one…" Midna rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Midna, how do we fight her without hurting Courtney?" Trent asked with a low whisper.

Midna leaned close to him in the air and gave him a serious look. "Don't worry… I have a plan," Midna turned his attention back to 'Courtney' as she stood in the air above them. "That was a nice move, taking over the body of a girl that no man can bring themselves to hurt … smart," Midna slowly made her way up to aerial level with 'Courtney'. "But… there's one problem with your plan," Midna stated, scratching under her chin in thought.

"What would that be?" 'Veran' asked, humoring the little imp.

Midna's "hair" stretched out and clenched its teal and black shading forming into a giant fist bigger then Courtney's body. "I am _not_ a man!" She screamed firmly.

'Veran' raised an eye brow confused, but soon grew wide eyed as the giant 'fist' that Midna had cut through the air towards her. Unable to react or dodge, the 'fist' drilled into 'Courtney's' gut and sent her flying. Trent cringed at the sight, but couldn't look away. Midna quickly stretched her 'hair hand' out as far as it could go, grabbing 'Courtney' by her ankle. Letting out a battle cry, she flung 'Courtney' down into the water bed below, creating a large and loud crashing surge of water as the body disappeared under the water. Midna smirked to herself proudly and drifted down next to Trent. Trent turned to Midna and gave a chuckle. "Um, well… I hope that didn't hurt her as much as it looked like it did," Trent commented.

With a soft, cute laugh, Midna looked to Trent with her sharp playful eye. "I don't think something so small as me knocking her across a lake is going to hurt her- much less stop her," Midna told Trent as she smiled to herself.

"Then why did you hit her?"

"Just to show her that at least one of us won't pull any punches," Midna explained.

Suddenly, the water of the lake started to ripple all around, crashing waves violently against the two platforms on its lake face. The sky twirled dark clouds over head, blackening out the sun as the waves grew even more violent. Midna looked out towards where she previously threw 'Courtney'. "Looks like she's awake again," She stated, lighting starting to surge through the sky.

Out from the water she was thrown into, 'Courtney's' body slowly rose out and levitated high above the surging water. Her hair draped over her face from the water drenching it. She wore a scowl across her face that Trent could see even from the far distance; and feel it. "Nice hit, now it's my turn," Veran growled, holding a hand out in front of her.

From her hand, a light formed and created a rapier, to which she clenched the grip and laced her fingers through the guard. Trent whipped out his sword and shield with a scoff of confusion. "Since when could she make a sword out of nowhere?" Midna shrugged and whipped her long 'hair hand' out and picked up Courtney's dropped bow.

"Maybe Courtney has more powers then we first thought…" mused Midna.

Before they could converse anymore on it, 'Courtney' dived through the air at them, the point of the rapier aimed at Trent. The storm clouds above crackled thunderously as the rapier struck Trent's shield that he put up for protection. Taking his chance, Trent cocked his shield to the side, knocking the rapier and 'Courtney' off balance. Trent then swung his sword at Courtney and hit her side with the face of the Master Sword. Though not a cutting strike, the force of the attack knocked the wind out of 'Courtney' and she staggered back through the air with a grunt. "Was that supposed to hurt?" Veran scoffed as she held her side, pretending it didn't hurt.

Trent smirked and pointed his sword behind her. "Yes, but this will probably hurt more," 'Courtney's' head turned around to see Midna's giant "hand" holding Courtney's bow behind her.

"…Crap," Midna thrusted her hand down and with a loud thwack, crashed the bow on the top of 'Courtney's' head.

Once more, her body fell down into the water below and disappeared into the rough waters below. As she sank deeper into the lake, her head aching with pain, she inwardly grumbled. _"I won't be beaten by some second rate dweebs! I'm better then Sulk Twerp, Burn-out, and Dorkious Link! I… am..!" _Her eyes shot open and the water around her exploded with her immense energy surge. "VERAN!" She roared as she flew out of the water and looked at the platform Trent fought her on.

'Courtney's' eyes grew confused as she looked at the platform. Not a soul was there anymore. "Where did they go?" She growled, her voice growing angrier along with her vicious eyes flaring up.

"Hey Veran!" She heard a voice yell from above her.

She threw her gaze upward to see Midna's giant 'hand' holding Trent. "I believe the term for this… is check mate," Midna mocked as she flicked her giant glowing hand towards her, flinging Trent at her body.

Unable to react, Trent tackled 'Courtney' out of the air and slammed her back into the grassy platform below. Veran let out a loud blood curdling scream of hate as Trent pinned her arms down and panted. "Courtney, you've gotta' snap out of it," Trent pleaded as he looked 'Courtney' in the eyes.

Veran desperately attempted to break from his hold, but to no avail. Trent bit his bottom lip and gave a worried look. "Didn't want to do this, but…" Trent took one of his hands away from 'Courtney's' shoulders and balled it up into a fist.

The air crackled with thunder and flashed with the growing lightning. Trent swung with all his might and punched 'Courtney' across the face with a loud smacking sound ringing through the lake area. Suddenly, the waves stopped surging, the clouds unwind from the sky, and the morning sun glared down on the group. Courtney's head moved slightly and looked Trent in the eyes. "Trent… what are you doing on my chest?" She asked groggily, a slight stream of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.

Trent got off her quickly and helped her to her feet. "I'm so sorry, but—" As Courtney got to her feet, she clenched her head and howled in pain.

Trent attempted to take a step forward to see if he could help, but was stopped when he saw Midna rush over to her through the air. "Veran… get out of her body!" Midna announced as her 'hand' formed up into a larger form then usual.

She clenched her giant 'hand' around Courtney's body, emanating a giant light from the cracks of her hand as her hold tightened. After a few moments, she took her hand away and revealed Courtney on the ground passed out, unharmed. While in the hand, she held Veran squirming for release. Trent cheered with laughter at Midna's success. "Wow, since when could you do that?" Trent asked Midna amazed.

"To be honest, I didn't think that would work twice… I was betting on it that time," Midna admitted as she recalled the last time she did something like that.

Courtney slowly opened her eyes and shakily got to her feet, holding a hand to her forehead in pain. "Grah… I feel like I just took a test I didn't study for…And that never happens, that's what losers that fail school do…" She compared as she staggered over to Trent.

Trent helped support her and they both looked up at Midna. Midna smirked down at the two of them and shook Veran about in her giant hand. "So, what should we do with her?" Midna asked, seeing as they where in a place of power for once.

Trent and Courtney looked at each other for a second, and then smirked deviously as well. "I say we—"

"I say you let the lady go," A voice from behind them uttered flatly.

They span around to see a giant suit of golden armor with a pointed helmet on was standing in the way of the rope bridge. Veran looked over to him in pain, but slowly smiled in relief. "O-Onox," Veran coughed as she looked down at the man.

The helmet of the man turned to look up at Veran and a laugh escaped the helmet. "Chica, are you well?" He asked in a joking tone.

Veran's smile faded and she turned her face away from him. Onox sighed and returned his look to Trent and Courtney. "What do you say? Won't you please let my 'friend' go?" He asked them directly, which made them confused.

"…Al?" Trent questioned as he searched the giant suit of armor's for some sort of face.

Onox's gauntlet hands clenched tightly and his body clang as he shuttered. "I don't know who this 'Al' is… but that name makes me want to hurt you," Onox growled, struggling to keep his calm voice.

"_That's Alejandro alright… Too bad he's wearing that armor… he always had a great—forget that idea, forget that idea, he's evil,"_ Courtney thought as she listened closely to his voice.

"I'll ask once more… will you release her?" Onox asked again, returning to his calmed voice.

"Not gonna' happen," Trent replied, pointing his drawn sword at Onox.

Onox looked at the sword then at Trent. Slowly, he let out a strong laugh and he shook his head. "Very well…" Onox started as he stiffened his laughter.

Just then, he shot out his hand and clenched its fingers around Trent's throat and lifted him off the ground. Trent dropped the Master Sword as he lost all his breath from the tight and quick grasp. Courtney and Midna did a quick motion towards Onox, but stopped as they saw him take out a dagger. "Move another inch and we'll see if he's any good at fighting without his eyes," Onox threatened.

The two girls gasped, but stayed in place. "Now, release the girl," Midna lowered her hand down and opened it wide so Veran could walk free.

Veran quickly took a place standing next to Onox, along with giving him a thankful smile and bow. "A pleasure doing business with you," Onox thanked as he dropped Trent from his grasp.

Trent gasped for air as he hit the floor. Onox and Veran both turned to leave as a dark warp way opened before them. Veran stepped through it and Onox looked behind himself at Courtney. "Volveré por ti mi princesa. Su amante de la mano del metal se alegrará de verte. Be A good girl now," He waved to them before stepping through the portal as well and disappeared.

The dark portal disappeared as well, leaving Trent and his party alone. "…Win?" Midna looked over to Trent and Courtney.

Trent looked up at her and shrugged. "Win. At its essence," Trent concluded.

"That reminds me…" Courtney spoke up, drawing their attention to her. "I owe Midna a punch in the gut, and a hit over her head. And I owe Trent a hit in the rib and a punch in the face!" Courtney shouted, bringing both their hearts to sink.

"Oh… you could see all that?" Midna laughed worriedly as she moved closer to Trent.

"See _and _feel," Courtney stroked her cheek with her silk glove hand, wiping her blood away.

Trent and Midna slumped their shoulders and looked down at the ground disappointed with themselves. Just then, Trent's hat lifted slightly and Beth fluttered out. "Umm, guys. Shouldn't we find the sage?" She inquired.

The group snapped back to their senses, all but Trent. _"I'm never going to live down punching Courtney's beautiful face… even if she forgives me… Did I just say beautiful?"_ Trent thought to himself.

"…_Yes…"_ he heard Midna's voice cross his mind in a hurt tone.

"_Midna?"_ He called in his mind, but got no response.

He shrugged his shoulders and dismissed it as his imagination. "Alright, let's find that sage team," Trent instructed his team.

"Right,"

"Got it,"

"Whatever…" The three of them replied and went off to search the lake area.

Beth and Midna took to the sky and scanned the area carefully, but saw nothing. "Do you think the sage left the lake?" Beth asked Midna.

Her arms folded before her chest, Midna remained quite. "Midna?" Her yellow eye snapped in surprise and she turned to the little fairy.

"Sorry…"

"Is everything okay?" Beth asked with a concerned tone and look.

"Don't worry about me. I'm a big girl," Midna joked as she winked to Beth.

The fairy giggled and fluttered off to search other areas. Once she was gone, Midna's face turned saddened once more and she looked down at the water. "…Why do I care if he doesn't think of me as much as her? It's not worth it," She muttered to herself, a clear glint in the corner of her blurring eyes.

* * *

Trent heaved a hefty sigh and he looked out at the water. "Where is that sage…?" Trent asked sky, not knowing what else to do.

Courtney on the other hand, sat down next to a scarecrow placed near some crops and straitened her dress out. "The sage probably just left. I mean Owen wasn't at the temple, so maybe—"

"HRAAAAH!" A voice screeched from behind Courtney and the scarecrow that was just standing still a moment ago, leapt from its standard and onto Courtney.

With a frightened scream from Courtney, Trent whipped his sword out and charged at the scarecrow. Its head rose up and looked at Trent while still on top of Courtney's squirming body. "Oh oh, Trent! Hi! Nice to see you and Courtney come all the way out to Lake Hylia to find me!" The scarecrow laughed, skidding Trent to a halt and ending Courtney's struggling.

They both looked at each other, wondering if the other had the same idea. "Izzy?" They asked the scarecrow.

As if to answer the question, the scarecrow jumped off of Courtney and unmasked itself. Once the scarecrow mask dropped to the floor along with the rest of the outfit, it was as plain as the messy red hair flowing down her back, who it was. "Ta-dah!" She cheered as she showed her whole self to them.

For the most part, she looked normal except for her cloths being replaced with seaweed like substance and shells and other aquatic ordainments covering it. Not just that, but her forearms and forelegs had produced arching like fins of flesh out of them. "You guys look weird. But I guess I'm not one to talk, I mean look at me. _Look at me,_" Izzy gestured to her whole body and at theirs.

"Beth, Midna! We found her!" Courtney called into the air. Beth soon fluttered down and approached Izzy happily.

Midna just drifted down and sank into Courtney's shadow wordlessly. "Izzy! You look cool," Beth commented with a laughing snort.

"Yeah, cool huh? But we can't just stay here talking, we have to get to the Spirit Realm and put me in place of the water sage," Izzy explained in her usual rushed and historical voice.

"How do you—" Trent attempted to ask, but was interrupted by the blinding white light as it engulfed Lake Hylia, warping them off to the Spirit World.

The smoldering heat of the Fire Temple scorched through the stone walls and red streams within the Temple. But unlike other times, the crazy flapping bats had stopped; the blood thirst lizards, where cowering; even the lava that flowed from room to room seemed to have stilled now. The only sound now that echoed through the molten Temple was the sound of cloth footsteps echoing towards the entrance of the temple. "They all treat me like a joke… I'm not a joke. I'm strong, I'm evil, I can kill… and I can get my revenge," The owner of the foot steps uttered darkly, drained off all feelings.

He stopped right at the exit and turned his head around, frightening all the creatures nearby to flinch and hide. "I can get it, because I'm a bad boy… I'm Skull Kid," The yellow eyes of the mask he wore flashed and the lava around him burst all about the room, scaring the monsters more and killing others.

Turned back around he let out a psychotic cackle and twitched his head about as he exited. _"Good Skull Kid… Now just listen to me, and you'll have whatever you want,"_ A soft voice whispered to Skull Kid as he exited the Temple, leaving many monsters cowering in fear even though he had left.

* * *

**READ, REVIEW, please, if i don't get reviews my assistent thinks i'm slacking off... do you WANT me to die a painful death that has to do with a pan?**

**The wheels keep turning round and round, where will it end? I hope you enjoyed this chapter as a precursor of what is yet to follow. Hope to see you next time.**

**See you in the big times**

**-Overlord-Flinx**

**What is Midna so upset about?**

**Why did Izzy know about the Spirit Realm and Lake Hylia?**

**Who was it that was talking to Skull Kid?**

**When will Courtney learn about her own abilities?**

**How is it no one respects Beth?**

**Some of this will be answered, some not... who knows? I know. And i may tell you if you REVIEW.**


	12. Skull in the Mask: you should be ashamed

**I will admit first had, this chapter is not my best work... but i had to do it so i could transition into the fun, character building, funny chapter. So, bare with me now. And remeber to REVIEW.** **And PLEASE, VOTE ON MY PAGE!**

* * *

The sages all sat around in their floating platforms, waiting franticly for their heroes to return. The air about them was thick and silent, but the feeling of worry was also abundant. "Anyone else feel that chill?" DJ asked while shivering in his large orange garments.

"Yeah… but what was it? Do you think it was that Ganon person?" Bridgette asked as she stroked her bear arms, trying to get some kind of warmth and comfort.

DJ shook his head at Bridgette's question and took his gaze to the center platform. "Naa… I've felt it before. Only…" DJ paused, biting his bottom lip.

Owen looked up at him and cocked his head. "Only what?"

"Only this time, when I felt it, it felt like something else was with it… like, making it worse…" DJ explained with a hesitant voice.

The two others made no further response, they really didn't understand what he was saying, but they knew enough to know it wasn't anything good. Bridgette stretched with a low moan as she laid herself down on her back, legs still hanging off the edge of her platform. "How do you think they're doing right now?" She asked softly with a glance over to Owen and DJ.

That's when the bright light of summoning flickered up from the center platform. "I'm thinking it went well," Owen answered while the bodies of Trent, his team, and their new addition on the platform in front of the blue hexagon emblem.

DJ and the other spirits sprang to life and waved to the arrivals. "Welcome back! I guess everything went well if you're back here so soon… And you brought Izzy!" Bridgette clapped in relief for her friends' quick and successful return.

But, she then noticed that they didn't have the same exuberant life they had last time they had came. Trent was averting his eyes from his team by looking to the sleek flooring. And Courtney had been nervously rubbing her arm with her gloved hand. Bridgette's observation of them ended as the realm was filled with the echoing whistle of Izzy. "Wow! This place is ginormous! What do you think the dimensions and measurements of it all are? Think it can hold a pool?" Izzy started asking her hair brained questions when Ruto appeared beside her, face bright with joy.

"Finally, someone who's asking the important questions! I've been asking if we could get a pool in here for, like, ten years," Ruto cheered Izzy on.

Just like Ruto, the other spirits appeared next to their individual. "Ruto! There will be time for frivolous matters after the worlds have been saved," Rauru announced, curtailing Ruto and Izzy's questioning and discussing.

The sages all looked to Rauru, giving him the go to do his explanations. "Now… Heroes. You have done well in releasing the water sage in such little time; but I'm sure you've seen that the forces of evil are growing more aware of your presence, and have taken precautions to stop you," Trent and Courtney both looked up to him and nodded that they understood. "And, no doubt you have also noticed that the sages have started not appearing in the temples of which they are afflicted to," Rauru turned to Izzy and Ruto's platform. "Izzy… will you tell us where it was you appeared? And how it is you had already known about your situation?"

"Oh yeah, easy. Well, when I was back in my world, I was gonna blow the pool up to see it do a guesser—" Trent and the others from her world shook their heads with groans, except Owen who smiled and nodded patiently.

"_Note to self… stop that explosion when I get home,"_ Trent noted, and then went back to listening with the others.

"But before I could go "BA-BOOM!" a light swallowed me up and dropped me in this hot, hot, HOT, place with a huge river of fire flowing under me," That's when everyone snapped with surprise.

"…Death Mountain? When did you land there?" Trent questioned Izzy with a look over to her and Ruto.

"Hmmm… about two hours ago, yeah, two hours," Courtney and her team caught their breath, caught completely off guard.

"That's about when we left…"

"Probably. But that's not all. When I got up to find a way out, this big guy came to me and told me everything, he even gave me a portal thingy to get me to the lake long before you!" That moment, the room became as chilled as a grave, all faces going pale.

"…What did he look like?" Courtney asked in a worried hesitation. "Umm… he had, like, a skirt with metal waves down his sides… Oh, he also had big gauntlets on; and he had a cone head like helmet…" Everyone's fears where conformed by the final clue Izzy gave them.

"_Alejandro… or whoever he is in this world. But why would he help us?"_ Trent's mind went jumbled over the thought, but was brought back to reality when Rauru rose for their attention.

"Whatever the reason may be for these actions by our enemy, we mustn't lose sight of our goal…"

"As always, Rauru is right in his reasoning," A new voice chimed in.

All members within the room looked to the purple hexagon emblem on the floor with the mark of a triangle and three orbs around it embedded into the emblem. Like the other sages, the emblem sparked with a light and the figure of the new sage took form. This sage was a very masculine woman with faded white hair, but didn't seem to be older then at least 30. Her small clothes where blue and she had a symbol that looked like a golden eye. She eyed the three down before her with a judging look in her red eyes. But as her eyes settled onto Courtney, she softened. "It has been too long since I've seen anyone other then the other sages; forgive me for staring," She told them. "But I won't waste your time or mince words. I am Impa, Sage of Shadow. My temple is located within Kakariko Village, deep inside the grave yard…"

"Why?" Courtney asked, wondering why it was in a grave yard of all places.

"It was a designer's choice… But I will say this, you will not be able to reach the temple by foot, so I will give you the 'Nocturne of Shadow', a song that –when played correctly- will warp you to the Shadow Temple at your will," Impa explained as she took out a piece of crinkled paper and handed it to Trent.

Instead of being thankful, the paper seemed to only make them angrier. "…This is a song that can send us to the Temple?" Trent asked, steaming up with anger slowly.

"That is correct,"

"Are there songs to all the other temples?" The sages remained quite and looked away, attempting to avoid the question. "You've got to be kidding—"

"Would you look at the time, we'll have to send you to Lake Hylia so you can retrieve your horse. Fair well heroes," Rauru interrupted Trent, the light from the center platform starting to swallow them up once more.

"Rauru! Don't you dare-" Courtney's rage filled screaming was cut short as the light took them up and warped them back to Hyrule.

The sages faded away without another word, leaving their replacements behind. Owen hadn't taken his eyes off Izzy, excitement in his chubby face. "Izzy, you're looking good," He laughed with a friendly look to his crazy friend.

"Thanks Big O, E-Scope agrees!" Izzy nodded vigorously.

Bridgette sighed and looked to DJ sincerely. "At least Owen's happy…" DJ didn't respond, but simply sat on his platform with a focused look in his firm face.

"Sorry Bridge. But something's eating at me…"

"What is it?" She questioned with concern to her voice.

"It's probably nothing, but… that Byrne guy that fought Trent; Veran said that he was holding back. I don't think she meant he held back the entire fight, but even with that, why would he hold back at all?" DJ mused.

Bridgette tapped her chin for a moment, than looked back to DJ. "Duncan was a horrible person… but he knew when something was going too far. Maybe that kind of thinking is what made him and Byrne so compatible…" Bridgette tried to reason, though she knew she had no real base for her guess.

DJ sighed and looked up into the endless void above them. "I hope you're right. Because if he comes back, I don't think he'll be holding anything back."

* * *

Hyrule is a beautiful land that always had a warm sun and cool moon crossing the sky day to day. But, throughout the land, a few isolated storms and rains where scattered and never ending in a few places in Hyrule. Byrne was in one of those places. He sat lazily under an arched tree that covered him with its looming branches, protecting him from the patter of the endless rain. His eyes where slid shut as he fluxed his claw hand fingers out in front of him, allowing streaks of rain drops stream the sides of each blade. Lazily, Byrne's eyes opened and he looked around his surroundings sadly. Around him, in the misting rain fall, were the distant shapes of tomb stones and rickety fences. The damp mist clung to his skin and dampened his scarf over his mouth, steadying his breathing as he took wisps of water in. "I don't get it… why couldn't I just whip out my killer moves on that Link… or that…" He paused and looked down at his water slickened claw, clenching it tightly with a clang. "…Zelda…" Sighing through his damp scarf, he closed his eyes once more.

In the darkness of his closed eyes, allowing his mind to fluttered free in visions of his mind. As the visions flowed through his mind, he flicked his eyes back open and sprang to his feet. "…Courtney," He muttered before dashing through the rain within the grave yard towards the exit.

His feet pattered and splashed through atop the smooth, grass covered rocks that made up the walk way. Not taking a moment's break, he swerved and skittered across the slippery rocks of the grave yard with worry in his eyes. _"Those where no memories of mine… But whoever they belong to –they want that girl safe!" _Byrne worried, hopping small fences and dashing out the small gateway that led to Kakariko Village.

* * *

Epona galloped with pleasure as she saw the familiar white flash at the entrance to Lake Hylia, along with the forms of the people it brought with it. Trent checked his surroundings and groaned as while rubbing his forehead. "I'm starting to wonder if the Sage's are jerks on purpose or if they're just that forgetful," He grumbled to the other members of his team.

Beth fluttered before his face and gave him a fierce glair. "The Sages are all powerful and all knowing! They always know what's best," Beth argued, getting even more into Trent's face.

From Courtney's shadow, Midna rose up and folded her arms with a threatening but mocking look to Beth. "Really? So it was a good idea not to give Trent all the songs to every temple?" Beth sank down and hung her head at Midna's words.

"But lucky for you, Trent, before Link and I went our separate ways, I learned one or two of his songs," Midna boasted with a proud glance over to Trent.

Trent spun around and looked Midna head on with amazement. "Really? That's great; can you teach me some?" Midna playfully shrugged and moved face to face with Trent, bringing a blush to his face.

"Hmmm… When the times come for each song… I might," She grinned at him with her cute imp lips than quickly went back to Courtney with a chuckle. "But, as Beth would say—"

"I'm right here…"

"We have a Sage to go meet, so let's go!" Midna urged them on.

They all nodded and took their traveling positions. Since they already knew the way to Kakariko Village, Beth sat on Epona's head and Courtney mounted the young horse. Trent quickly took out his ocarina and started to take the piece of paper with the song out. "Hold it Trent," Courtney called to him.

"Let's not use the song until we get to the grave yard… Just incase the sage isn't at the Temple, we might run into them on the way…" Courtney reasoned with Trent.

Trent thought it over for a minute, than tucked the ocarina away. "Yeah, better safe than sorry," He agreed.

He glanced up at Midna and smiled. "Midna, want to go wolf back?" Midna grinned softly and drifted down next to him.

"_No point in being a sore loser, we can still be… friends,"_ She snapped her fingers as she thought over her situation.

With the snap, Trent quickly morphed down into his wolf form and Midna hopped onto his back. "Kakariko Village, here we come," Courtney said as she struck the reins of Epona and sent her down the field towards their destination.

Midna patted a hand onto Trent's neck, telling him to go; and sure enough, Trent was off like Epona. The two mounts stayed close together, so not to lose anyone while traveling across the field. As they traveled, Midna looked to Courtney who had a deep look in her eyes. "Hey Court, everything alright?" Midna asked over the sound of Epona's galloping.

Courtney looked back to Midna with the same deep look she just had. "I can't help but think that something bad is going to happen…" Courtney told Midna directly.

"Maybe… but for now, we're on the move, there is no sign of trouble, and we're all together," Midna pointed out to Courtney with a smile.

Suddenly, Trent and Epona skidded to a halt as a familiar masked boy walked over to them in the direction they where traveling. "…Two out of three is still good," Midna mumbled to herself.

Skull Kid stopped short of them with a proud stance to him and a lack of rattling every time he moved. "You've got to be kidding? We dropped you in a flaming temple! How is it you've caught up with us so quickly?" Courtney asked with hissing annoyance.

Skull Kid didn't respond in anyway other then just standing where he was, silently. Courtney slid off of Epona's back and walked over to Skull Kid in a huff. "What will it take to get rid of you, huh? Do we have to tie you up and throw you in a lake?" Courtney yelled at him, getting up in his masked face.

"Umm… Courtney?" Midna called to her.

"Why don't you do us a favor and leave us alone?" Courtney continued ranting to the small boy, ignoring Midna completely.

Midna hopped off Trent's back and turned him back to his human form. "Courtney, I think you should—" Trent tried to tell her, but was drowned out by Courtney's harsh words to Skull Kid.

"You're not nearly as much of a threat as the other members of your team, so why do you keep coming back and—"

"…You're first, princess," Skull Kid told Courtney, cutting her of in her tirade.

Courtney blinked twice and looked down at Skull Kid. "What?" With a flash of Skull Kid's mask eyes, Courtney was sent flying back towards Trent.

Trent quickly acted and caught Courtney in his arms. "You okay?" Trent asked Courtney while getting her back to her feet.

Courtney nodded and looked back over to Skull Kid with concern. "Never knew he could do any kind of super natural powers…" She laughed, clenching her stomach where Skull Kid's unseen force hit her.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to say I'm weak? Or that I'm useless?" Skull Kid mocked, taking steps closer to them.

Trent quickly drew his sword and armed his shield for battle. Skull Kid took note of his prepping of weapons, and snickered. "Do you think those toys will help you?" He laughed as he threw one arm to the side.

As Skull Kid's arm swung, Trent's shield flew off his arm and across the field. "What—"

"You should keep a better hold on your stuff," Skull Kid threw his other hand to the side, rattling Trent's sword around in his hand.

Trent tightened his hold on the Master Sword with both hands, trying to prevent it from being tossed to the side like his shield. Skull Kid cocked his head to the side for a moment, then just let out a slight cry and tossed Trent to the side along with his sword. Scraping his side across the ground, Trent got back to his feet and faced Skull Kid again. "Beth…" Trent called to his fairy friend.

Beth immediately flew over to him and rested on his shoulder. "Why is he so strong now?"

"Maybe he's using the mask now… Majora's mask is highly dangerous and feeds of negative emotions," Beth explained, which made Trent slump down in shame.

"So… the mask was feeding off all the times we made fun of him or treated him like crap?" Beth nodded, only making Trent feel worse

. "And, sending him to the Fire Temple was probably the straw that broke the camel's back… or broke his last sense of right and wrong,"

"It's our fault… But we can't worry about that now," Trent regained his stance and composure, readying himself for the fight.

Skull Kid laughed to himself and floated up into the sky. "Do you think you can beat me? I'm Skull Kid the Extreme! New and improved! You don't stand a chance against—" As he continued to rant in the sky, he felt a sharp pain pierce him in the side, a familiar feeling.

He looked down to his left and saw Courtney had her bow out and another arrow knocked for a shot. His body shook in frustration and he tore the previously shot arrow out of his side. "Why do you keep—" Once again, Courtney fired an arrow, this time lodging it into his right shoulder.

"Stop doing that!" He roared, ripping the arrow out of him again.

Courtney smirked and knocked two arrows at once before firing them at Skull Kid. In one instant, the two arrows delved deep into each side of his torso. "Stop that!" Skull Kid tore the arrows out of him one last time, fuming with anger.

Trent watched the two of them fight, than grinned in understanding. _"Under it all; the powers, the skills, the mask, he's still Skull Kid and Tyler… so if we can bring that side of him out…"_

"Straw Kin! Ready to fight?" Trent called to Skull Kid jostling.

Skull Kid turned his back on Courtney and shook his fist at Trent. "I told you, my name is, SKULL KID!" He stressed, throwing a hand in his direction, which forced the ground around Trent to shift and shatter into large spiked pillars.  
Trent narrowly avoided the rock pillars, only receiving a tare in his tunic and a slight cut into his skin. "Huh, that's better luck than I usually have—" Out of nowhere, Skull Kid tackled Trent to the ground and started to pummel him with a rain of his small straw fists.

"That the best you got Skully?" Trent asked as he punched Skull Kid in the gut and across the face.

While Skull Kid tried to regain his composure, Trent produced his hammer and smashed it into the top of Skull Kid's head. Skull Kid let out a sharp screech and staggered back, hands on his head. "Not cool!" He growled at Trent before knocking him back with his energy force.

"Hey Skull Kid," Courtney called to him in a sing song tone.

He shot his head back at her with a growl. "What!" As if answering him, Midna's 'hair hand' shot out towards his face and grasped the mask.

Skull Kid quickly grabbed the rim of the mask and struggled to keep it attached to his face while Midna attempted to tear the mask off his face. "Come on Midna, reel in that sucker!" Beth cheered while watching Midna buck and pull her head back to try and give the 'hand' some more pull.

"Trent! Pull him!" Midna ordered with a strained voice.

Trent quickly ran up behind Skull Kid and wrapped his arms around his small waist, yanking him in the opposite direction of Midna. "NO!" Skull Kid yelped, arms shuttering as he tried to keep the mask in place.

"Come on guys, I can feel it coming loose!" Trent told the rest of his team.

Courtney had grabbed hold of the length of Midna's hair hand and pulled it along with Midna for extra support. Majora's mask started to shutter and let out a paining groan as he started to part from Skull Kid's face, almost like it was holding onto him as well. "Please! Don't take the mask!" Skull Kid cried while kicking Trent in the gut to get free.

"It's evil Skull Kid! it needs to get off of you!"

"I know its evil, but it's my only friend!" Just like that, they all stopped dead.

They all looked at each other without letting go of Skull Kid or the mask. "…What?" Courtney finally asked, releasing her grip on Midna's 'arm'.

"Everyone picks on me, treats me like a loser, and calls me names when I mess up…" They all looked away shamefully, knowing they were guilty of that since getting here.

"But the mask makes me feel happy, it protects me, and it also gives me power… don't take it away!" He wined; and even through they couldn't see his face, they could tell it probably matched to his saddened cries.

"…None?" Trent asked, not wanting to believe it.

"My team mates hate me, my enemies hate me, and the hottest girl I've ever seen probably hates me too…" Skull Kid continued to list off more and more things and people that hated him, one being birds.

Trent looked over to Courtney and Midna with a nod. "Skull Kid… if we can get you a friend, will you take the mask off and give it to us?" Trent offered the small boy.

Shocked, Midna let Skull Kid go which made him fall mask face first into the ground. "Trent, what are you doing?" Courtney asked in a hushed but furious tone.

"Just trust me… Do we have a deal Skull Kid?" Trent lifted Skull Kid off the ground and offered his hand to him.

Skull Kid looked from his hand, to Trent's face, than to the other members of his team. "…This isn't a trick is it?" Trent shook his head at Skull Kid's question and smiled at him, sincerity in his green eyes.

For a few moments, Skull Kid pondered about it. "Hmm… Alright, you got a deal!" Skull Kid cupped Trent's hand and shook it heartily.

Courtney and Midna groaned simultaneously and shook their heads disappointed. "Tre—Link, we have a sage to go get," Courtney reminded him while he put Skull Kid on Epona's back.

"I know, and it'll be a lot easier if he isn't attacking us on the rest of this journey… no offence," He told Courtney and apologized to Skull Kid.

"Naa, I understand," Skull Kid excused.

"He's got a point 'Zelda'… who knows, we may get something out of this," Midna admitted, drifting over towards Trent.

"_Oh yeah, agree with the hot guy… I mean the hero…"_

"_No, you meant hot guy,"_ Midna told her mentally with a snicker.

Courtney's face flushed red with both embarrassment and rage, but hopped onto Epona's back regardless. "So Trent, where are we going to go now?" Courtney questioned him smugly.

Trent glanced at her than looked out into the distance proudly. "We're heading to the ranch… I think we'll find the perfect 'friend' for him there,"

"You're going to get me an animal for a friend?"

"Close… someone who raises animals," Trent told Skull Kid before guiding the horse in the direction of Lon Lon Ranch.

* * *

**Like I said, not my best, but worry not, next chapter will be great and funny. Just make sure you're here when it comes out. And again, REVIEW**

**Who is it that Trent has in mind?**

**Why would Onox help Izzy?**

**When did Byrne start careing about anything?**

**...I'm how of my chapterly W's and H's... I don't get paid enough for this**

**See you in the big times**

**-Overlord-Flinx**


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